Hearing God's Tone of Voice Changes Everything
Tone of voice tells me a lot about the speaker. It’s as true in reading Scripture as it is in daily conversation!
My chapter “Who is God Really?” from Brandon’s and my book “Not Home Yet” (get your copy here) draws this idea out, but here’s the short version:
How something is said is as (if not more) important as what is said.
Tone of voice tells me a lot about the speaker. And it’s as true in reading Scripture as it is in daily conversation!
I’ll prove it:
You get a text that says, “Hey, let’s talk.”
If it’s your best friend who has a free second and wants to spend it chatting with you, it’s downright heartwarming! You’re loved!
But … if it’s your boss texting after you missed (another) meeting, glancing at it gives you a jolt in the gut and an adrenaline spike! You’re in trouble!
It’s true in Scripture, too!
For example: After Adam and Eve sinned, God calls to them , “Where are you?”
How do you hear his tone of voice? Think about it.
To really catch God’s tone of voice you need to skip to the end of the story: God vows to send a rescuer. So when God asks, “Where are you?” hear it with pity. He already knows what they did. He’s not mad so much as sad. It’s more like the Dad who picks up the phone in the middle of the night to hear his son say, “Dad I’ve got to tell you something.” And Dad asks, “Where are you?” His voice is full of love and the immediate promise to make it better.
Sometimes it’s easier to hear God’s loving tone of voice through Jesus’ mouth. Imagine Jesus’ voice when he says to the leper “I am willing to make you clean!” . Or when he tells the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven!” That is the voice of God.
Using our imaginations to enter the story, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting the scene, we interact with the real Jesus, hearing his voice in the tone he intends. He’s not always nice (looking at you, Pharisees), but he’s always our loving Shepherd.
His sheep know his voice, and it becomes more and more familiar as we immerse ourselves in Scripture engaging our imagination as we listen and notice how his words make us feel physically.
Maybe “where are you?” gives you a jolt of shame and fear. It’s powerful to ask yourself why you feel like that and take that to the Lord. Then listen again to his intended tone. How does it make you feel that God is sad for you? That your sin and suffering draw his gut-level compassion. That he rushes to his hurt sheep to scoop you up and carry you gently home?
"Not Home Yet: How To Be Human in An Inhuman World" by Brandon & Liv Booth
Have you read Brandon and Liv’s book, “Not Home Yet”? Written for the tired, and lonely; those who long to find rest on the journey of life.
“Not Home Yet” speaks to those who feel like strangers in a strange land, searching for a deep and abiding connection with the one true source of all things, Jesus. And it's for every person who, once that connection is established, wants to create oases for others and help them connect with Jesus more intimately.
You can also download the audio version read by Brandon and Liv themselves!
Provisions for the Road
"Rest Easy" - A Song by Andrew Peterson
Hey friends, it’s Ashley. Sometimes, I forget that I’m a human being, and I try to be a “human doing!” I forget my identity as “redeemed,” and give into the voices telling me to work harder and do better. If I could just accomplish one more thing, then I could rest. I need to be reminded that the voice of my Good Shepherd invites me to rest right now, and to trust in the work he has already done on my behalf!
This song by Andrew Peterson has been a wonderful reminder for my heart, to let go of my agenda, my to-do list, and anything else that I’m trying to use, to prove my worthiness. I’m already accepted! I can simply “rest easy!”
Food for Thought
Things the team found interesting this week, no endorsement implied.
Why Insight Alone Does Not Heal
By Felipe Mercado at Psychology Today
In my own (Brandon’s) struggle with an anxiety disorder I have often referred to myself as an “insight junky.” I read everything I could believing that I would somehow turn the right page and discover some paragraph that would magically fix my bad feelings. “If only I could figure this out!” I thought. But insight alone does little to heal what ails us. As Mercado says: “Healing is shaped by the body, relationships, and the systems people live inside.”
How ‘Zombie Flow’ Took Over Culture
By Derek Thompson on Substack
“These days, I wonder if a crucial skill to maintaining sanity and self-awareness is rather the ability to get out of zombie flow. “Without challenge, life had no meaning,” Csikszentmihalyi wrote. The elders knew it, too. Life is supposed to be the right kind of hard.”
The Consolations of Simulation
By Paul Nedelisky at The Hedgehog Review
The idea that we are living in a Matrix-like simulation is both silly and spiking in popularity among young people. Nedelisky has an interesting theory as to why: it explains our current and pervasive feeling of meaninglessness and insignificance. Perhaps we feel like an NCP (Non Player Character) because we are an NCP.
