The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over many waters. Psalm 29:3

The phone rings. I pick it up, check the caller ID, but it isn’t a number I recognize. Nevertheless, I respond  to the call and am instantly delighted to hear the voice of an old teaching friend from Boise.   Though we’ve not been in touch for years, I would know her voice anywhere

And isn’t that amazing! I am fascinated by human  ability to identify a person audibly, to distinguish who that person is from the hundreds of thousands of other voices we’ve heard in a life time. I think of my husband Dan, of our children and grandchildren. I would never confuse their voices with any other person. I think of loved ones who are gone and know without any doubts at all, that I will always  know their voices. If it were possible, I’d do anything to hear my mother and father’s again or my brother Joe saying, “Hi Sis. It’s your brother Joe.” Voice is an indication of identity.  Voice recognition is essential to the relationship between speaker and hearer. 

I want to know: how is this possible?  What makes each person’s voice so uniquely developed?  What is wired into our brains for such specificity?  I’m sure there are scientific explanations for this phenomena as  well as technology developed to track our voices, to capture our identity.  It is a two edged sword which we’ve not yet learned to use wisely. Voice recognition is still  a mystery and a miraculous gift.

This January as our church is experiencing the semi-annual Twenty One Days of Prayer, the theme is God’s Voice:  How to hear it, how to recognize it and ultimately, how to respond to it. Can we actually hear God’s Voice speaking? If we can do so, then why?  What’s the reason for believing God Almighty speaks and  that we are wired to hear Him? It surely isn’t random noise we pick up as if from outer space radio stations. God’s Voice must be comprehensible, it must be exquisitely unique and it must be purposeful.

The answer is Yes and yes. God did design us to hear His Voice so that we will be in relationship with Him. The first and greatest commandment is in the Torah, the  Sh’ma. Israel is to listen because God speaks. It affirms  who God is and what our relationship with Him is. Christians are to do the same through Jesus.

Listen, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your being, and all your might. Deuteonomy 6:4-5

When Jesus walked on earth, He had a human voice. He spoke, taught, prayed, suffered anguish and died on the cross demonstrating  a gift to the world never before or since given. God’s Voice was very audibly heard, that of Jesus, His beloved Son. He was buried and  His beautiful voice was silenced for three days. And then, behold, He spoke again to the disciples. Is that not proof of His resurrection, of divinity? The resurrected Lord spoke distinctly and  He was heard by many until His ascension to the Father’s right hand. Jesus promised to send  the Holy Spirit to continue speaking to us throughout the age.

Pastor’s  teaching that God’s Voice is in the Scriptures, in fellowship with one another,  in the Body of Christ when we gather.  God still calls us to honor relationship with Him, to know, love and serve Him. And to love one another as Jesus did because love is His language and His Voice.

My sensory  ears can’t hear Jesus’ voice  physically, but His Spirit speaks inaudibly to my heart.  I would recognize the precious sound of Him anywhere, any time.  When the phone line of my life is finally cut short, I will rejoice to hear Him calling me home to Himself. There will be eternities ahead to listen to the Voice which spoke in the beginning and speaks my name in eternity.