How come I don’t hear His voice as clearly as I used to?

Mark Cowper-Smith

There are a few reasons for the condition of not hearing God’s voice like you used to. The first is very easy to fix.

It may be that you have stopped listening in order to obey. Many of us, at times, only listen  to hear what we want Him to say. It we do this habitually He will attempt to correct our self centered attitude for a while and then, if we don’t listen to His correction, He will stop bothering us with His thoughts. He does not stop loving us but He will wait until we truly want to hear and obey whatever He says. The issue for us is one of motivation. Why do you want to hear Him? Just for your comfort or also for your growth in commitment and holiness? The quick solution once you have discerned a self centered motive, in your relationship with Him, is to repent.

The second reason why you may not be hearing Him like you used to is that you are slowly acquiring His mind. As a young Christian there is a very great difference between your un-sanctified thoughts and His thoughts, as they arise in your mind. The difference is startling because,at this point, you are not very transformed in your mind. Another way of saying this is that you have not yet acquired much of the mind of Christ. The transformation of your thinking, from mostly your thoughts to mostly His thoughts, takes time spent listening to Him, both in reading His word and in conversing with Him in prayer.

As you spend time with Him you acquire more and more of His mind, that is to say, you are being influenced by His thoughts; His viewpoint, agenda, desires, understanding, etc. What is really happening is that His mind and your mind are becoming intertwined. His thoughts are becoming mixed up with your thoughts and His thoughts are superior to your thoughts. He is influencing your thinking which means that thinking like He does and reaching His conclusions is becoming second nature to you. Interestingly, most of the time it is not a process that you are particularly aware of. Over time the result is that much of the time you are thinking His thoughts and attributing them to your own mind. It seems like He is not speaking as much. The truth is that He is actually “speaking” more.

There is a third reason and it is that God wants more than just your obedience to His commands. He wants to be pursued. He wants you to learn to wait for Him to speak. He wants what every lover wants – He wants to be sought after. At times He will wait to speak until you pursue Him. This desire to be pursued is not coming from a selfish or insecure motive on His part. His desire is to love you into His likeness in order to make your joy complete. The only way this can be done is through intimacy with Him. In order to increase His intimacy with you He may need to increase your hunger for Him. Remaining silent is one of the ways He does this. Silence and stillness intensify your desire for Him.