Hearing...and...Recognizing

Have you ever had one of those phone calls where you answer the phone, and after you say hello, you have to let the person on the other end get a few sentences out because you have no idea who it is. And you're hoping that if they say enough you will be able to figure out who it is. Now if I had to guess, chances are the person who is on the other end of the phone is not your mom, dad, husband, wife, your child or your sibling. Chances are it is someone who you don't talk to on the phone that often. And it's always so awkward when you just can't figure out who it is, and you have to ask that question "I'm sorry, but who is this?". And then I think we all have the same reaction when they say who it is, and we end up saying something like "oh wow, hey how are you, I didn't recognize your voice". So what just took place during all of that? Well, you are hearing the person on the end, but you are not recognizing them. The voice that you hear is not a voice that sounds familiar to you. Why? Again, because you probably don't talk to that person that often and therefore your brain didn't know how to match the person to the voice.
We can go through times in our life where we don't feel like we "hear" God too. But the truth be told, this is not a "hearing problem" that we are having, but more of a "recognition problem". And just like it's hard to recognize someone's voice you don't speak to often, why is it that you think you don't hear from God, because you aren't spending enough time with Him so you can recognize His voice either. I think one of the best verses in the bible to support this is John 10:27. It says "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me". It is not by chance that sheep would be used in this verse because studies have shown that sheep can recognize the voice of their shepherd. And Jesus, being our shepherd, should be a voice that we recognize when He is speaking to us. But a sheep only knows the voice of it's shepherd because of the amount of time they spend together. The sheep could hear many voices, but which one is it going to recognize? The ONE it knows! We too can hear many many things trying to speak to us, but we have to be able to weed through them all and know which one is God. Yes, God can and will use people to get a message across to us sometimes, but sometimes He also wants to deliver the message straight to us. So it's critical to know when you are hearing Him. Time in God's word, time with him in prayer and time in praise and worship to Him are key ways to spend time in an environment where you are going to hear from Him and start recognizing the His voice. Then, when He needs to speak to you throughout the day, you will KNOW it's Him because of the time you have spent together and you recognize THAT voice.
I can often get caught in a moment of awe when I think that I can go to the creator of everything around me and speak to Him. That's not something I ever want to take for granted. But I am in way more awe when I think that He will take the time to speak to me too. I will never forget the first moment in my life that I had spent so much time with Him, and I had made such a place for Him in my life, that I heard His voice (in me) in the middle of the day for the first time. It was a decision that I was about to make and He wanted me to know how He felt about it. And the voice was so strong and so clear that I immediately broke out into tears. And yes, I was out in a very public place when this happened, and I didn't care. He spoke to me, and I was in a moment of awe. In the moment the thing He spoke to me about seemed insignificant, but 2 days later I heard Him again about something that wasn't so insignificant and I remembered thinking "you spoke to me that other day just so I would know what you 'sound' like, so in this very important moment, I would KNOW this is You". And I just began to thank Him for loving me and caring about me that much!
God loves and cares about you....and He desires to be close enough to you that you recognize His voice. I want to encourage you today to stop asking why you don't hear from God,  and instead ask yourself do you recognize His voice when He does speak to you. I say "when" because He will. Job 33:14 says "For God may speak in one way, or in another, Yet man does not perceive it". So it is up to us to seek Him and spend time with Him, so like the sheep, we know our shepherd's voice.
God, Thank You that in all of Your glory....in all of Your wonder....You still take time to speak to us. I pray that when Your voice is heard, it is recognized by Your people. I pray we will purposefully clear a place in our lives to spend time with you, and then we can take your presence out with us and keep our hearts prepared to hear and recognize Your voice. Holy Spirit please help us not just hear, but learn to obey the voice of The Lord without question. And let our lives, our love, our pursuit for You point others to You. In Jesus name, Amen