Has someone ever told you something you really didn’t want to hear? A doctor, a close friend, or maybe someone you didn’t even like. It shook you. It moved something inside of you. That experience points to a deeper truth: when God speaks, something always moves. The most important question isn’t whether He’s speaking. It’s whether we’re listening.
Jeremiah 51:15-16 paints a vivid picture of who God is and what happens when He speaks:
“It is He who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by His understanding stretched out the heavens. When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.” – Jeremiah 51:15-16 English Standard Version (ESV)
God opens His mouth and the skies roar. Storms gather. Lightning flashes. The wind comes out of His storehouses like it has been waiting for His command.
These words came through a prophet. Prophets had a unique relationship with God. He spoke to them directly and often gave them difficult assignments. Many had their lives threatened. They lived apart from the general population, and that separation kept them pure before the Lord. It also drew them into a closeness with Him where they witnessed miraculous things.
Jeremiah is known as the Weeping Prophet, and for good reason. He was the last prophet standing before Babylon destroyed Jerusalem. His job was to tell the king exactly what was coming, and it was not good news.
The king didn’t want to hear it. The leaders didn’t want to hear it. So they threw Jeremiah into a muddy cistern and left him to sink in the mire. He had to be pulled out with ropes. That is what it cost Jeremiah to deliver God’s word.
And yet, in the middle of all of that, he writes about the power of the God who made everything.
When the Lord speaks, the earth moves. Sometimes it physically moves, but most of the time it moves because His word is being spoken into a situation that doesn’t want to hear it.
That is exactly what happened in Jeremiah’s day. God’s word collided with a nation’s pride, and something had to give. The same is true today. When God speaks truth into our lives, especially truth we would rather avoid, something has to give. Either we yield to His word, or we resist it.
God doesn’t only speak in thunder. Consider Elijah in 1 Kings 19. Elijah was hiding in a cave, worn out and afraid. A great wind tore through the mountains, but the Lord was not in the wind. Then came an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. Then a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
After the fire came a low whisper. That is where Elijah heard God.
The same God who thunders in the heavens also speaks in a still, small voice. He still speaks today. The question is whether we are open to hearing Him.
God speaks to us through His Word. The Bible isn’t just information. It is His voice.
In Revelation 2, Jesus speaks to the church in Pergamum with a serious warning:
“Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.” – Revelation 2:16 English Standard Version (ESV)
That is the picture of the Word of God. Sharp, powerful, and able to cut right to the heart. The same voice that stretched out the heavens is the voice that speaks to you when you open your Bible.
Listening to God is more than a passive activity. It requires intentionality. Here are a few practical ways to cultivate that habit:
Maybe there is something He has been putting on your heart. A nudge you keep ignoring. A conviction you keep pushing aside. Something you would rather not face.
Don’t be like the king who tried to silence the messenger. Jeremiah paid a heavy price to deliver a word that was ultimately for the good of the people, even if they refused to receive it. God’s hard words are never without purpose. They come from the same wisdom and understanding that established the world.
Let His word move you. That is what it is designed to do.
This week, set aside intentional time to be still before God. Open your Bible, quiet your surroundings, and ask Him what He wants to say to you. If there is something He has already been speaking to your heart that you have been avoiding, bring it before Him honestly. Don’t silence the messenger. Let His word do what it was meant to do.
Ask yourself these questions as you reflect:
The God who made the earth by His power and stretched out the heavens by His understanding is still speaking. The only question is whether we are listening.
