COP30 - 14 November 2025
Hearing God's voice can be a choice

Reflection

Today we join the Israelites as they camp in the Desert of Sinai. It's three months since their escape from Egypt and in that time they've crossed the Red Sea and travelled approximately 350 km (220 miles), a journey where finding fresh water has been a challenge, one where they’ve been sustained by a diet of manna and quail, and one where they have battled with the Amalekites. The Israelites have been through a lot in a very short time and, as far as comfort zones are concerned (see yesterday's reflection), theirs was left well behind in Egypt.

They may have been through a lot, but they are still at the very beginning of their journey as an identifiable people of God. At this point in their spiritual journey, and for generations to come, their communication with God is via an intermediary, and for the next 40 years Moses will fulfill this role. In today’s reading we climb Mount Sinai with Moses to hear what God wants to say to the Israelites.

God never wastes words. He wants Moses to remind the Israelites about their escape from Egypt, something so out of the ordinary that only God could have achieved it. And he wants them to know that he is gathering them to himself. This is personal. But he's not a dictator god, so the Israelites now have a choice. It’s a series of choices really. First they have to choose to listen to him, to hear his voice. Then they have to choose to obey what they hear, and in doing so, keep the covenant between him and them. If they do these things, the reward is great: they, out of all people, will be his treasured people.

It's difficult to imagine why anyone would choose not to listen and obey under those circumstances, that is until we reflect on our own lives and the things that distract us from God's voice. It's not only superficial things that distract us. Sometimes the overwhelm of life's responsibilities creates a really effective muffler. God has always known this, which is probably why the Bible contains repeated exhortations to 'be careful'.

The phrase ‘if you’ appears many times in the Bible, but interestingly there are three ‘hot spots’ of its use between God and his people. The first is here, in the early part of their relationship with him, as he begins to teach them what it means to be his people. The second is nearly 700 years later when the gulf between them and God is great and he reminds them, via his prophets, how they are meant to be living. And the third is another 700(ish) years later when Jesus resets their relationship with God. Each time they had (and we have now) the choice to listen (or not) and then the choice to obey (or not).

And a final thought. Inevitably most of God's 'if you’ exhortations speak directly about our relationship with him, but many concern the ways we are to treat other people, particularly those who lack agency in life, and one or two even talk about how we should treat the land that supports us. Justice is very much part of God's covenant relationship with us.

Response

God created us as individuals, so it's not surprising that we often hear his voice in different ways. Consider what these ways tend to be for you. Then ask yourself these two questions:

1. Have life's circumstances caused me to neglect an area where I know I have often heard God's voice in the past?

2. Am I limiting the things that God can speak to me about because I only engage with the familiar?

We can make choices in both these areas.