Easy Listening

Pastor Alex Hall | September 6th, 2026

Learning to Listen: How God Speaks to Us Every Day

There is a passage in Matthew 11 that contains one of the most comforting invitations ever extended to humanity. Jesus calls out to all who are weary and burdened, promising rest to those who would come to him. But tucked inside that promise is a condition that is easy to overlook. He says to take his yoke and learn from him. The rest, the easy yoke, the light burden — none of it is accessible without a willingness to learn. That single word changes everything.

The question worth sitting with today is this: are we actually willing to learn from Jesus, or have we simply decided we want the benefits without the surrender?

The Difference Between Savior and Lord

Many people eagerly accept Jesus as Savior. The promise of forgiveness, of eternal life, of grace — these are welcome gifts. But making him Lord is a different commitment entirely. It means submitting to his ways, even when they feel uncomfortable or countercultural. It means walking in obedience, not because obedience earns salvation, but because genuine love for God naturally produces a life oriented toward his will.

In Matthew 7, Jesus makes a sobering statement. He describes people who called him Lord, who even performed miracles in his name, and yet he tells them plainly that he never knew them. What separated them from those who truly knew him? The practice of his words. Not just hearing, but doing. Not just professing, but living it out. The person who hears and obeys builds on rock. The person who hears and ignores builds on sand. The storms come for both of them — the only difference is what remains standing when they do.

God Is Already Speaking

One of the most liberating truths available to any believer is that hearing God's voice is not meant to be mysterious or impossibly difficult. Job 33 captures this plainly: God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it. The problem is rarely that God is silent. The problem is that we have surrounded ourselves with so much noise that we have lost the ability to tune in.

So how does he speak? Scripture points to several clear ways.

Dreams and visions. Throughout the Bible, God communicated to his people through dreams while they slept and visions while they were awake. This did not stop in the ancient world. There is a difference between the kind of fragmented, forgettable dreams that fade the moment your alarm goes off and the kind that stay with you — vivid, clear, and carrying a weight that lingers through the day. When a dream has that quality, it is worth paying attention to and bringing before the Lord in prayer.

Whispers and warnings. The prophet Elijah discovered this in a powerful way. After one of the most dramatic moments of his ministry, he found himself exhausted, afraid, and running. God met him not in the earthquake, not in the fire, not in the great rushing wind, but in a still, small voice. First Kings 19 describes it beautifully. God's most intimate communication often comes not in the spectacular but in the quiet. This is why silence and solitude are not luxuries for the spiritually elite — they are necessities for anyone who wants to hear from heaven.

Pain and discipline. This is perhaps the most uncomfortable truth on the list, but it is right there in Job 33. Sometimes God uses difficulty, illness, or hardship to get our attention when nothing else has worked. This is not a message of condemnation. It is an invitation to look inward and ask honest questions. James 5 connects confession, prayer, and healing in the same passage, suggesting that sometimes what ails us spiritually and physically is more connected than we want to admit. Confession is not shameful — it is the doorway to freedom.

Creation. Psalm 19 declares that the heavens themselves are proclaiming the glory of God. Romans 1 goes further, stating that God's invisible qualities have been clearly seen through what he has made, leaving humanity without excuse. You cannot stand at the edge of the ocean, look up at a sky full of stars, or watch a storm roll across the horizon without sensing that something far greater than yourself exists. Creation is not silent. It is constantly testifying.

His Word. Every whisper, every dream, every impression must be tested against Scripture. If what you believe God is saying contradicts his written Word, it is not from him. The Bible is not a relic. It is living and active. John 1 calls Jesus himself the Word made flesh. Getting into Scripture daily is not a religious obligation — it is the primary way we learn to recognize the voice of the one we are following.

The People God Places Around You

There is one more way God speaks that is easy to underestimate: other people. The book of Job gives us a fascinating character in Elihu, a younger man who waited patiently while Job's three friends offered advice that was ultimately wrong. When he finally spoke, he was filled with something the others lacked — a word that came from the Spirit rather than from human reasoning alone.

Every believer needs an Elihu. Someone who will tell them the truth when everyone else is offering flattery. Someone whose words carry a weight that comes from genuine faith and genuine love. This is why community matters. This is why being planted in a church, in a small group, in authentic friendship with other believers is not optional. We were not designed to discern alone.

Say Yes

The invitation at the heart of all of this is simple. God is speaking. He has been speaking. He wants to speak to you through dreams, through whispers, through his creation, through his Word, through the people he has placed in your life. The question is whether you are positioned to hear him.

Start small. Get into the Word with expectation. Keep a journal. Find a community of faith. Learn to sit in silence long enough to hear the still, small voice. And when he speaks, be obedient — even when it costs you something.

His yoke is easy. His burden is light. But you have to be willing to learn.