I attend a Bible study on Thursdays at our church. We are reading through the Bible and as you can imagine, we have lots of questions. Some of the hard ones that baffle the minds of scholars, others are common to many and a number are based on curiosity alone.

We covered I Chronicles this week when someone asked the question, “Why was David able to hear God’s voice so clearly?” Was it because he and God have a special relationship or was it reserved just for David? Is this something we can have too?

This spurned talk and theories as we tackled the topic - the Holy Spirit – positioning ourselves to hear God – knowing His voice and many other explanations were discussed. But how do you know it’s God’s voice that we are hearing and not our own chatter that rambles around in our head?

We are clear in that the Holy Spirit doesn’t tell us anything that contradicts the Bible but what about the silly little things that happen during the day, like, “Should I stop home and make a ham sandwich for lunch or should I save time and hit a drive-thru in order to begin my errands sooner?

Now this may seem like a frivolous question but it’s the exact one that entered my head after Bible study.

Does God ever feel silent? I’ve often wondered why He speaks in a “still small voice,” especially since we live in a culture full of noise. I guess it’s much the same with my kids. They have an innate ability to tune me out if I yell at them (they obviously inherited this trait from their father) but when I speak quietly to them they are more likely to tune in.

I, on the other hand, have a hard time hearing unless it’s spoken with a raised voice. The background noise surrounding my life often camouflages His quiet Spirit. Then again, maybe it’s not the noise that keeps me from hearing Him speak. Perhaps it’s my busyness.

Many years ago we lived in Germany and rented an old row house. It was narrow but three stories high and had marble stairs that twisted their way to the top.