INSPIRATIONAL: Learning to Listen to the Still Small Voice

by: Linda Kirby/WGON

It was a dark night, and I was alone. Jamie was out helping his brother, and I sat in my dimly lit room, playing games on my phone, waiting for his soon return. Everything was peaceful—until I thought I saw movement.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw what looked like someone peeping around my bedroom doorway. I paused, thinking Jamie might be checking to see if I was asleep so he wouldn’t wake me. But nothing came from the doorway.

“Jamie, is that you?” I called out. No answer.

Again, I thought I saw someone backing out of view. Now, my 77-year-old heart was pounding in my chest. My fear had risen faster than my blood pressure! I said aloud, “If that’s not Jamie, I’m throwing something NOW.” The only thing I had in my hand was my cell phone—still warm from the games I’d been playing.

I rared back to throw it as hard as I could…And then I heard that still small voice:

“Don’t throw. It’s nothing.”

So instead of launching a $1000 phone across the room, I used it to call Jamie.

Turns out, the shadow I saw was from my macular degeneration—not an intruder. But that voice? That voice was real. I’ve heard it millions of times in my life, and I know it well.

John 10:27“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

Oh yes, I’d know that voice anywhere. Do you?

The Holy Spirit lets us know when we’re in danger—and when we’re not. He knew I couldn’t afford to buy another phone, and I hadn’t even finished paying for this one. Rather than letting me destroy it in fear, He spoke to me in that familiar whisper.

In today’s dangerous, chaotic, and wicked world, we need to know the still small voice that speaks to us all. The problem is, not everyone hears it—or listens. They don’t recognize it because they’re not listening for it.

That nudge you get when something just doesn’t feel right? That’s Him warning you.Those stories of people who missed their flight because something inside said, “Don’t get on that plane”—and then the plane went down? That’s a true story.

He gives us what we need in the very moment we need it. But we’ve let too much of the world’s noise into our ears and lost our spiritual hearing. We’ve become spiritually deaf.

Revelation 2:7“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Jesus repeated this phrase often. It’s not just poetic—it’s a call to spiritual attentiveness. Having an open ear means being willing to listen, understand, and act on God’s guidance.

We were given the Holy Spirit to help us navigate this world of deception. And with deception being so widespread, we need our spiritual ears open and our discernment fine-tuned.

1 Peter 5:8“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”

So how do we stay sober and vigilant?We listen to the Holy Spirit.We keep our eyes and ears open.We sharpen our discernment.

That’s how we make it through the dark nights.

Sometimes, the greatest act of courage isn’t in the throwing—it’s in the listening.