Who's voice is it anyway?

Before the summer holidays, one of Josiah’s school projects was about wild birds. He had to identify all the different birds that we could see in our garden, and out on our walks. It was probably the only project that I actually enjoyed. It didn’t really require too much effort, and never ended in an argument🤦‍♀️. We only had to put a tick next to the image of the bird that we had seen. Nice and easy, especially for Josiah.

We started looking out for any birds in the garden and tried to work out which type it was. I had filled some of our bird feeders so that we could attract more birds, making it easier for him to spot them. If he had too long to wait, he would just get bored and lose interest. Sure enough we found lots of different types of birds. One morning I even spotted a nuthatch at the bird feeder, apparently they can be hard to find. I decided to take it one step further and learn the different calls of the birds. I don’t know if it was because I was spending longer in the mornings lying on my bed drinking coffee with the window open, but I seemed to be more aware of all their different songs in the morning. I played them on youtube and then I’d listen to see if I could identify which song belonged to which bird. Some were easier than others. Usually by the time I'd gotten to the end of the video, I'd forgotton what the first ones sounded like.

Out on a walk, everyone quickly got fed up with my new interest as I tried to point out all the birds we would see and hear. I’m sure Calum inwardly rolled his eyes 🙄 every time I said “oh that's the Heron, do you hear it?” 😂 However he did get excited one night when the kingfisher flew past us, beside the river in the garden. We heard its call as it went past, we only got a quick glimpse of it, but it turned and came back up again as we heard it’s call again. This time we were ready, watching for it flying past. It’s colours really were impressive.

As I’ve tried to listen to, and learn all the different calls of the birds, it’s made me ask, do I always know when God’s voice is speaking to me? Maybe sometimes I get confused. Is it God that is speaking to me? Is it my own voice that I hear, causing me to worry or is it sometimes the Devil’s voice that I hear, telling me to doubt God, and all that he said?

I follow someone on instagram who is a bird watcher. (I know, I’m really that sad but it does actually interest me 🤣) He has no difficulty in distinguishing the different calls of birds. He studies them, spends time out in the countryside taking photos, observing them and listening to them. It has taken time and effort for him to train himself to know so much about them. He wouldn’t be much of a bird watcher if he couldn’t.

So it should be for me. The more time I spend with God, the easier it is for me to hear His voice. Not necessarily an audible voice, but through His word, the bible, I can know what He is saying to me. In John ch 10, Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd and Christians as sheep. He says in verse 27:

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”

If I spend time with God the way I should, then I will know His voice. I will know when it is Him that I hear and not my own voice, or the devils. I will know which voice to follow. Many say that they want to hear God’s voice, but they aren't willing to spend time with Him. Sadly if they don't take the time to read the bible then it becomes harder for them to hear Him.

Have you ever been with a group of mum's and their young children? It is amazing to see, when a child begins to cry, the mother of that child knows that it is her child that is crying. They know their children so well and can recognise their voice and cry above the other children there. So it should be for me. I should know God so well, that I can distinguish His voice from everything else.

If I’m honest though, that isn’t always the case. In such a busy, opinionated world, it’s easy to drown out God's voice and lose it in the many different voices of today. This world is full of the lies that the Devils voice has spread today; “Please yourself”, “popularity is everything”, “God is not real,” “Money, relationships and success is all that matters”, “nobody cares”. It’s easy to get caught up in this way of thinking.

I can be a bit like Peter in the story in the new testament when he walks on water to meet the Lord. At first his confidence is in the Lord and he boldly steps out of the boat, but soon after he gets distracted by the waves and his confidence falls as he takes his eyes off the Lord and he begins to sink. I can often hear God's voice encourage me on a Sunday at our church service or during my morning devotions, but all too quickly I can forget what was said to me and as a new week/day arises, I let the devil's voice overwhelm me and soon I begin to sink in the waves. Before I know it a few days can slip past where I haven't spent time with God and, instead of listening to him, I begin to allow myself to be distracted and redirected. The voice of “please yourself, God won’t mind” is usually the one that catches my attention!!

The other voice that often catches my attention, is the one inside my head. That's probably the voice that I listen to, way too much. The negative voice; “you can’t do it”, “people will talk”, “leave it to someone else”. Sometimes it’s an angry voice; “how dare they”, “why bother”, “If I could only give them a piece of my mind”. Usually in the back of my head I can still hear God’s voice telling me what I should be doing or how I should be reacting. I just have to decide what voice I will listen to.

As I think of all the voices that can influence my day to day life, I wonder if anyone has heard God’s voice over the last few months. It may be in circumstances, things that have been said to you or something that you might have read. Quite often, it can be put down to ‘just a coincidence’ but with God there are no coincidences. He uses these things to get our attention so that we might listen and hear his voice. I sadly think of a man called Pilate in the bible. He was the man that Jesus was sent to, to be judged. Pilate believed Jesus to be an innocent, good man. He didn’t want to order his execution. But the voice of the crowd was too much for him. They shouted and yelled for Jesus to be crucified. They told him, if he released Jesus then he would be ‘no friend of Caesar’. Pilate was afraid and he gave in to the voices of the crowd.

Sadly today I hear of so many people that hear God's voice. They know that God is trying to get their attention. They know what he wants from them. They know what he wants to offer them. But the voice of the crowd is too great. They are afraid of what people might say and instead turn their back on the voice God.

So as I continue to look out for the birds in my garden and probably next spring begin to listen to all their different songs, hopefully I will get better at recognising who's voice belongs to who. I pray to that you and I will spend more time with God and be able to recognise his voice, and not only that, but obey it to.