Whisper
By: Mark Batterson
How to Hear the Voice of God
April 2020
I was first introduced to Mark Batterson by a family friend. At the time, I was a college student trying to grasp the meaning of my life and my purpose. I was anxious, to say the least. Enter Mark Batterson.
I first read The Circle Maker, followed shortly by Draw the Circle (both awesome books that you should check out!) and was hooked. Mark Batterson is very real with his audience, and his stories become more tangible through each personal account or experience he shares. I found myself making connections to his words through my own life experiences, and the rest is history.
A little back story. I found Batterson’s book, Whisper, by happenstance. I was actually looking for another book on Amazon when his popped up as a recommendation. Seeing as I had already read, and fallen in love with his other books and writing style, I figured why not. The first time I tried to read this book was last summer. It was my “sit by the pool and relax” book. I ended up not really doing a whole lot of relaxing, due to my husband’s job, our brand new house, and a 3 month old puppy. So, to the shelf it went.
Fast forward a few months, and due to our current circumstances in quarantine, I found myself with more time on my hands than I knew what to do with. So, I began to look through my bookshelf (that has grown a lot recently thanks to book recommendations), and I found myself drawn to Whisper. Something told me it was the right time to read this book. So I did.
From the beginning, I was hooked, because I had never thought of a whisper as being a powerful tool of communication. If you know me, I am not quiet, and my family is not quiet either, so whispers are hard to come by in my neck of the woods. However, this book made me pause. How could a whisper be powerful? What message could a whisper really convey? How do I know If I am hearing it, and hearing it correctly? Where do whispers come from? The questions just started to flood my overthinking brain. And with each page, I found myself more aware of the only whisper that really matters: God’s.
“When someone speaks in a whisper, you have to get very close to hear. In fact, you have to put your ear near the person’s mouth. We lean toward a whisper, and that’s what God wants. The goal of hearing the heavenly Father’s voice isn’t just hearing His voice; it’s intimacy with Him. That’s why He speaks in a whisper. He wants to be as close to us as is divinely possible! He loves us, likes us, that much.”
I am a believer: I pray, I read scripture, I try to do the right thing. But one thing I have always wondered: how is God talking to me? How do I know if I am doing what He wants me to do? How do I know if He is happy with me, and the choices I make? How do I know if I am hearing Him? I am sure you have had similar questions. It can be hard to discern the will of God, and what he wants for our lives, but we aren’t meant to worry about that; that’s for Him to worry about. Our job is to have faith; faith that He is working for our good, that He will provide, and that He loves us. He shows us these things, and more, in different ways and in different times throughout our lives. We simply have to be aware of them, when they come knocking on our door.
God has many languages that He uses to communicate, and Batterson lays these seven languages out in his book. Each time God speaks, He is not necessarily yelling, or shouting, what He wants us to do or if He is happy with what we are doing (though He can and will to get our attention when needed). He typically whispers. And it’s in the smallest whisper, we can receive the biggest news!
“God speaks to different personalities in different ways. The way Jesus related to His disciples was as different as Peter, James, and John. God is big enough to speak as many languages as there are people.”
Whispers are unique, and interesting. They take special auditory processes to hear and understand. They require attention to detail, stillness and pause. They require us to focus. Our lives today are messy, loud and often chaotic. Busy schedules, trips, to-do lists- it can be hard to hear a whisper above all the noise, especially a whisper from God. It can also be hard to hear a whisper if we are too busy planning our own lives, and not paying attention to what God is trying to do or what he wants from us. Cue his many languages. God speaks to each of us differently. Instead of His answers or messages always being loud, and clear and right in our face- they come in the form of whispers. If we pay attention to the world around us, and pause in the midst of our instant gratification, click-of-a-button filled lives, we just might be able to hear God’s whispers in our everyday circumstances.
My family and I just recently went through a season of change, and this quarantine was just the icing on the cake. To say the last few months have been challenging is an understatement. I believe in silver linings, and I have no doubt that I was meant to read this book at this time. God’s whispers of comfort, direction, and grace during these last few months have meant so much and have changed a lot of what I have been doing. All it took from me, was my willingness to stop and listen for His whispers.
“God wants us to hear what He’s saying, and we must heed His voice. But much more than that, He wants us to hear His heart. So He whispers softer and softer so that we have to get closer and closer. When we finally get close enough, He envelopes us in His arms and tells us that He loves us.”
Mark Batterson explores the different languages of God, how we hear them and interpret what God might be trying to tell us, and more. If you have been searching for God’s voice, or not sure how He might be trying to communicate with you, I highly recommend this book. It is eye opening, and it has definitely given me cause to stop, and listen for the whispers in my everyday life. He is trying to communicate with each of us, everyday, and He does so in different ways. It could be wisdom from a loved one, a quote from a book, or something you see on social media. You just have to be willing to stop, pause, and listen for His whisper.
