Isaiah 28:23: “Give ye ear, hear my voice, hearken and hear my speech.”
If you really want to light my boiler fire, just ask: “Well, what is God saying to you about this.” My guaranteed first strike would be: “If I knew what God was saying to me I wouldn’t be sitting here wondering what to do.” I can’t even get my directions right from that woman speaking to me from inside my GPS, let alone follow some subjective feelings I get that is supposed to be the voice of God.
Don’t get me wrong, if someone comes up to me and says “God told me to this…” More power to you. That is just not my experience. Sure I hear what I think may be God’s voice on many occasions. For instance when I am stuck in traffic on the Eisenhower Expressway in zero degree weather like we have been having with a steady snow fall, I hear a very distinct voice in my head say: “Move to Florida.” Skeptic that I am, I just can’t be sure it is God’s voice.
So a verse like Isaiah 28:23 is very disturbing for me. We are commanded to hear God’s voice and harken to his speech. Hey, no argument here, I am ready, willing and able to hear God’s voice and harken to His speech. I ask for only one thing, to be certain it is God’s voice and speech I am hearing and not the voice of my personal desires or will.
Isaiah 28:23 tells us to give ear, and hear His voice. This give ear business in the Hebrew is ozen. This word reflects a physical perception picked up by the physical body in some way. This is not referring to an impression, nudge or feeling, it is something you actually perceive physically. The next phrase is hear my voice. The word hear is shama’ which is a listening with the intent to obey and learn. The word voice is qol which is a sound, bleating, thunder or noise. This is an actual, physical experience of the five senses.
The next phrase, harken and hear my speech is quite interesting. The word harken is the word qashav in Hebrew and it is found in a Hiphal form giving the idea that something we experience will cause us to harken or be attentive. Again the word for hear is shama’ which is to listen, obey and learn. So something will happen to get our attention and when it does we need to pause and listen, learn and obey from it, because that is my (Gods) speech. The word speech, interesting enough, is not what you would expect, that is the word debar which are words flowing from Gods heart but it is the word amar which refers to everyday words, sayings and experiences.
It is New Year’s Day, I actually stayed up past midnight to usher in 2014 and now I am sitting on my sofa meditating on my New Year’s resolution to give ear and hear the voice of God in 2014 as well as harken to his speech, but I am still really baffled as to just what this Qol (voice of God) really is.
I am starting to doze off when all of a sudden I see Qol (voice) jump out of my Hebrew Bible. I speak to Qol, “Hey Qol, can I ask you a question?” “Oh, yes, yes, indeed,” replies Qol. “After all I am a voice, I am ready to talk. Tell me, what you want to know, I will give you an answer, just tell me, I am a voice ready to respond, anxious to hear your question, what’s your question? “If you can shut up for a minute I will ask you.” I respond: “I would like to know just what is God’s voice and how do I know it is God’s voice I am hearing?” Qol looks a little nervous and responds: “Uh, yes, sure, um, I’ll tell you what, let me sleep on it, you know it is past midnight and I‘ll…” “No,” I snap, “You are not getting off that easy. This is the New Year for crying out loud and I am not getting any younger, we are going to get this resolved once and for all.” I grab Qol by the loop in its first letter Quf and start dragging him to my “Looking Glass” hanging from my Daleth. “Come on, it is behind my Looking Glass for us where you are going to explain your secrets to me.” With heads down the three letters for Qol, Quf, Vav and Lamed and I go behind my Looking Glass hanging from my Daleth. We suddenly find ourselves in the country, the sun is shining, and it is warm unlike the frigid snowing weather of Chicago. The country is filled with flowery meadows, streams of water and beautiful shade trees.
As we walked along I ask Quf how such a simple looking letter like he should be found in a complex word like Qol (voice) in the first place. “Why” said Quf, “I am the first letter of the word, I give the whole purpose to voice and that is to remind you to be open and alert to receive inspiration. Now I want you to listen to the voice of God all around you.” I turn to the next letter, Vav, and ask his purpose is in the word Qol (voice). Vav responds by explaining that he is a connection between earth and heaven. When I hear the voice of God I bring it down from heaven to earth so you can hear what God is saying. I then turn to the last letter, Lamed, and ask about his role and he smiles and says that he is there to connect my heart to the Vav who is connected to heaven and earth so that I will hear Gods voice in my heart. Your heart can hear what your ears do not hear.” Lamed reminds me.
Suddenly a bee starts buzzing around my head: “Buzz a Buzz, Buzz, Buzz.” “Hold it, wait a minute,” says Quf, “God is speaking, do you hear His voice.” “No” I respond annoyed at the Buzz. “What is He saying?” Quf replies, “He is saying, ‘Buzz a Buzz, Buzz, Buzz.” “Here,” says Vav. “Let me connect you to heaven and you can hear better what God is saying.” Lamed then interjects, “I will connect this experience with your heart.” Suddenly I am able to see, hear, and feel,the bee with my heart. The Bee is not humming with His mouth. The buzz is the movement of his wings. His wings carry him to a flower, a Rose of Sharon, where he scopes up a minute bit of nectar and pollen. He then moves to another flower where I feel his movement and where the pollen drops off for cross pollination as he gathers more nectar to take back to his hive to help produce honey. With my heart I can taste the honey. Suddenly Lamed steps forward and says: “Here, let me now connect your heart to Vav (connection between heaven and earth) so the knowledge you just received will connect you to heaven and bring you God’s Word that He is speaking. Now tell me what do you hear, feel, taste and see from your heart?” I reply that my heart is speaking to me telling me that I am like this bee, not only working for the good of the hive or the kingdom of God, but for the flowers as well or the world that I live in. The bee does not keep the nectar for himself to be nourished on the spot, but he brings it to the hive and it is nourished by the hive. “Suddenly, by my side appears the word “Shama” (Listen, learn, obey) who says: “Bingo! Now harken to the voice of God.”
We spend time with God’s creation, listening to the birds, tasting the water in the stream, feeling the wind as it rushes through the trees, smelling the fragrance of the Rose of Sharon, seeing the beauty around us and then I realize that my heart hears what my ears do not hear, it taste what my lips do not taste, it smells what my nose does not smell, it sees what my eyes do not see, it feels what my skin does not feel, my heart is hearing the voice of God.
As we journey back through my Looking Glass Qof explains to me that we hear the voice of God through our five senses which filter into our heart and spirit which has only one sense. As Qol (voice) jumps back into my Hebrew Bible its Quf (which is a letter that alerts us to inspiration) says, “Remember what you read in Jewish Literature that God has no ears eyes, nose, skin or mouth? He only has one sense, just as your spirit and heart has only one sense. The smell of a sweet fragrance such as the Rose of Sharon, the sight of his creation, the sweet taste of his creation like the honey nectar of bees, the touch and sound of wind blowing in your ears are physical senses but in your heart and spirit they become one sense, the voice of God and the joy you feel is God’s pleasure.
I thought how recently my study partner shoved a small bottle of Rose of Sharon to my nose and you know what, I think when I paused to take time to stop and smell the roses I could actually hear the voice God.
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