Expecting To Hear

"But God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it." Job 33:14 (NLT)

The Lord does speak to me, but I fail to listen. I do not expect to hear His voice.

I see His words in Scripture. I read His teachings. But I do not expect His interaction on a daily basis.

How many times--again and again, first this way and then that way--has He spoken into my life and I have been oblivious? I get so focused on my own life, on what I'm going to do, to say, that my pride blinds me to His presence and deafens me to His voice.

How do I begin to recognize His voice--His active voice--in my life? It is expecting to hear from Him. It is asking Him questions and being patient enough to wait. It is memorizingHis Spirit-led Scriptures. If I don't know what His words are like, how will I recognize them from the competing voices of the world? There are other ways He speaks--through nature, friends and family, life's circumstances--but unless I expect Him to appear, unless I recognize His presence throughout my day, the only words I'll hear from Him will be the lifeless historical scrawlings written on a page.