When You Hear God’s Voice But Don’t Listen

What do you do when you hear God’s voice but you don’t listen and obey?

I kind of knew where I was meant to be that week. But I had already signed us up for a family camp of fun with friends! Kayaking, shooting, ziplining, archery, horseback riding around the lake. Yes, yes, and yes! I had a dream that didn’t directly say to go elsewhere but I kind of knew that’s what I was being directed to go.

**God’s whisper is sometimes so quiet that we can easily pretend we didn’t hear Him say anything, if we want to. **

I usually don’t want to miss anything God has for me, so as crazy or costly or inconvenient as His requests can be sometimes, I’m often all in. But after a long season of crazy and costly obedience, I wonder, is it possible to have crazy obedience hangovers? I was just kind of “obeyed out” by the time the nudge came to head south instead of to family fun camp. So like Jonah going the wrong direction, we loaded up in the car and headed to camp. Even though I kind of knew we were meant to be in Florida that week instead.

And was it fun? Yes! Definitely! Were there signs we weren’t where we were meant to be? Yep, there were those too.

Then about 2 days before the 4^th of July (the craziest airline travel week in the US!), I hear that whisper but it’s pretty clear this time.

I hear, “There’s still time to course correct.”

Course correct!?

Oh my. I knew we needed to be in Florida by July 4^th but since that was only 2 days away, I didn’t see how any of this could logistically happen. As I prayed into “still time to course correct,” I flat out asked, “How am I supposed to get there?!” And I heard, “By way of Omaha.”

Now it’s not always so clear talking to the Lord. But sometimes it is. He still speaks. And it often takes practice discerning, “Is this God’s voice? My own head? The enemy messing with me?” But I knew this wasn’t my idea, and I could tell it was the Lord because I know His voice. And also because I know there’s no way I would have ever considered a flight to VPS from OMA!

We were in the middle of nowhere Nebraska and nowhere near an airport. We were 4 hours to Denver or 4 hours to Omaha. And where did the Holy Spirit want us to go? Valparaiso, Florida. We were once stationed there so I know the airport, and it’s a full day’s journey to get there almost always with a layover in Atlanta. I also knew that 2 days before the 4^th, these flights could cost an arm and a leg and possibly half a kid too.

But I heard “by way of Omaha” so clear that I googled flights from OMA to VPS. My jaw about dropped. I flew from Denver to ValP a couple years ago, just me, on their off season. And that flight cost about the same as all three of these tickets that were NONSTOP from Omaha to VPS. Wow! And the flight was only half full so we easily got seats together.

I’m just like Wow, wow, wow! So on July 4^th, we drove across Nebraska, pit-stopped at some amazing friend’s place for an hour and a half to do laundry and buy a proper carry-on suitcase, packed up, and drove to the Omaha airport. We hopped on the plane and everyone, even the flight attendants, were cheerful and happy.

I texted a friend in Florida that I bought tickets last minute and was headed to the area, but there were only 3 hotel rooms available in the entire stretch of the gulf and they were $1500 each. I kid you not!! I had no idea it got that CRAZY on the 4^th of July. I asked if she could help me google somewhere to stay while I was driving and flying. She ended up offering her very own place! And a car! What?!? The Lord continued to provide everything we needed for the entire trip. She said, “We can pick you up from the airport and drive you to the fireworks depending on when you land. Let’s pray you land early!” To be very honest, I didn’t have much faith for that and kind of smiled and rolled my eyes in my spirit. And would you believe… we didn’t just land early. We landed 45 MINUTES EARLY! You can’t make this stuff up. I don’t have that big of an imagination!

She watched the estimated arrival time keep bumping up earlier and earlier so they were there right when we landed! We hopped in the car and headed to Defuniak for fireworks and dinner at a Cajun spot. We made new friends right off the plane! My daughter looked like she was running a poker club, as she played Uno with all the dads in this gorgeous Cajun restaurant setting. To have that many dads playing cards with her and to see her so happy… wow. It was really cool. And after fireworks, the music playlist on the drive home was one for the books. We were in side-splitting laughter!

How do you step off a plane (by way of Omaha) and right into a community of new friends?

Only when God says, “There’s still time to course correct.”

God is not a controlling father. He always gives us an invitation and an option to obey or disobey.

There’s always a cost to disobey. Consequences, regret, missed opportunities, delays…

And there’s always a cost to obey as well. But at least the cost of obedience is accompanied with a pay off of fruit and blessings too.

But I will say, after all the times I’ve experimented with obeying God’s voice and pretending I didn’t hear Him say that… the cost of disobeying scares me more. When you hear God’s voice but don’t listen, there’s usually a sinking, “Oh man. I missed it. I wish I obeyed to see what God would’ve done.” I have multiple stories on that.

If I think it’s the voice of the Lord, I would rather go for it than miss it. I used to reason that if I got it wrong when trying to obey His directives, that He is big enough and gracious enough to help me clean up any mess I might make. But almost always, when I do the crazy thing, I pretty quickly see the fruit. And practicing hearing and obeying God’s leading in my life over the years has increased my faith in His love for me and for others. It’s brought me closer in friendship with the Lord. And it’s taught me that this wild ride of faith we get to live with the Lord, while it doesn’t always feel comfortable, convenient, or safe, it’s always always good.  

Sometimes, obeying is not for my own good but for others. Those are times when the cost of obedience is very high. Those are also times when we get to share in Christ’s suffering, learning to take up our cross as Jesus did. And in those times, the Lord is exceedingly near.

Part of why I love this story so much is that God gave me a second chance to obey. He graciously let us still enjoy time at family camp and make some big memories and try some new adventures for the first time. There were consequences though. And yet, God’s grace was enough. He made a way to “course correct.” That airplane was like the belly of a whale, scooping us up and getting us to where we knew we were meant to go. Those tickets were just unheard of. Locals here literally had jaws agape when I shared about the nonstop flight and prices. Just so much grace to cover over it all.

I have memories where I didn’t obey right away and I missed my window of opportunity and I don’t ever want to do that again. But wow, this time, I got a second chance, and I’m so grateful. The second chance doesn’t make me want to abuse God’s grace. It makes me want to obey right away next time. Because God never asks me to do something just to annoy me or make things hard. He only asks His kids to do wild and crazy things when He knows it yield a good harvest on the other side.

Wild and crazy obedience bares wild and crazy good fruit.

Is there a very quiet directive from the Lord that you’ve been pretending you didn’t hear?

If yes, there might still be time to course correct. Press in and pray it through.

I pray you have courage to obey and a holy wonder at the good harvest your obedience might produce.