Why Spiritual Hearing Matters More Than Most Men Realize
A lot of men have prayed prayers asking God for the next thing. The next opportunity. The next level. The next blessing. The next assignment. There’s nothing wrong with that. The problem is that sometimes we’re so focused on where we’re trying to go that we miss what God is doing in us right now.
The truth is, God doesn’t just prepare assignments. He prepares men for assignments. While we’re asking Him to open doors, He may be talking to us about patience. While we’re asking for increase, He may be dealing with our pride. While we’re asking for influence, He may be working on our character. The blessing doesn’t always feel delayed because God isn’t listening. Sometimes it feels delayed because God is developing areas of our lives that need greater spiritual maturity before we can carry what we’re asking Him for.
James 1:4 (NLT) says, “So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” Growth has a purpose. God is not interested in simply getting us to the next level. He is interested in making us more like Jesus Christ. And the closer we grow to Christ, the more confident we become in recognizing His voice.
Spiritual Hearing Is Connected to Spiritual Growth
One thing many men don’t realize is that hearing God clearly and spiritual maturity often go hand in hand. We like to think confidence comes from getting more instructions, but often confidence comes from learning God’s character. The more time we spend in His Word, the more familiar His ways become. We start recognizing what sounds like Him and what doesn’t.
In John 10:27 (NLT), Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” Notice Jesus didn’t say His sheep occasionally recognize His voice. He said they know it. There is a difference. When you’ve spent enough time with someone, you learn their patterns. You learn what sounds like them and what doesn’t. The same thing happens in our relationship with Christ.
That’s also why certain patterns and behaviors can create problems for us spiritually. Pride has a way of making us trust ourselves more than God. Bitterness can cloud our judgment. Persistent disobedience can make us less responsive to the things God is trying to teach us. The issue isn’t that God stopped speaking. The issue is that we stopped paying attention.
Every Assignment Comes With Instructions
Throughout Scripture, whenever God gave an assignment to someone, He also gave them instructions. The two were never separate. That’s important because many of us are praying for God to move while overlooking something He already told us to do.
Joshua is a perfect example. God promised him victory over Jericho, but He didn’t leave Joshua to figure it out on his own. He gave him specific instructions. To the natural mind, they probably didn’t make much sense. March around the city? Stay silent? Blow trumpets? None of that looked like a military strategy. Yet Joshua followed God’s instructions exactly as they were given.
Joshua 6:2-5 (NLT) says, “2 But the LORD said to Joshua, “I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors. 3 You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days. 4 Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. 5 When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.”
Imagine what would have happened if Joshua had decided to improve God’s plan. What if he had marched for three days instead of seven? What if he had substituted his own strategy because it seemed more practical? The outcome would have been very different. The victory was connected to obedience.
Sometimes we’re asking God for the next assignment when He’s still waiting on us to follow the instructions attached to the current one. That’s why hearing matters. God’s instructions contain what we need to move from one season into the next. The man who learns to hear God’s voice and respond to it is a man God can trust with greater responsibility.
Hearing God’s Voice Is Essential for Every Assignment
The goal isn’t to spend our lives wondering whether God is speaking. The goal is to become so familiar with Jesus Christ that we recognize His voice when He does speak to us. Just like any relationship, familiarity comes through spending time together. The more we walk with Christ, study His Word, and follow His example, the more confident we become in recognizing His leading.
God is still speaking. He is still directing. He is still giving instructions to the men He has called. The question is whether we are listening. As we continue growing spiritually and allowing the Holy Spirit to deal with those areas that don’t reflect the character of Christ, our hearing becomes sharper. We begin recognizing that God’s instructions are not meant to restrict us; they’re meant to prepare us for where He is taking us. And often, the difference between remaining where we are and stepping into the next assignment is found in our willingness to hear and obey what God has already said. ■
Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
“Before God Gives the Assignment”, written for Springfield Fellowship © 2026. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.