Our family enjoys listening to audio books, and one thing we’ve found, is that the reader is so important. But the other day I came into the house and Chay and Aarik were listening to a story, and I knew the reader. The problem was that it was the reader of one of my favorite stories of all time, about a heart doctor saving a little girl and finding his own heart again at the same time. And this reader’s voice for me immediately connected that story with my thought and heart. The problem is that isn’t what they were listening to. They were listening to a Hardy Boys series. And the disconnect of having that same voice reading a youth mystery story completely threw me off. 

Thinking about that turned my thoughts to a similar thing that happened a couple months ago. I had been listening to a story while on a job by myself. Then Aarik came and worked with me for a few days, and he wanted to listen while we were doing some of the work, but we decided to start a different story. But we started a different story by the same author and with the same reader. So that I found myself listening to 2 different storied set 100 years apart, with 2 different plots, different characters, but that shared voice was continually mixing the stories up in my mind.

Which brought me to Christmas and the question, “What are we listening to?” While technology has created some new versions of this issue, it is not a new problem. Think about the Christmas characters…

Zachariah is an old priest in the temple doing work he’s done his whole life. Except suddenly out of nowhere a shining angel appears and talks to him, announcing that he and his wife Elizabeth are going to have a baby in their old age. This angel wasn’t hiding his identity. He says, “I am Gabriel and I stand in the presence of God!” Yet somehow Zachariah can ask, “How can I know if you’re telling me the truth?” What in the world is he thinking? What voices in his head is he listening to? 

A bit later, Mary meets the same angel and simply believes the impossible thing she is told. The same angel, same voice, but she hears a different story.

Joseph is wrestling with a story Mary has told him about a baby growing inside of her. He knows Mary is not a liar, but he also knows the age old story about where babies come from, and what she’s saying just can’t be true. He’s hearing the voices of family and friends. He’s wrestling with his own pride, with a sense of justice. He makes a decision to break off his relationship with Mary, but then an angel comes and speaks to him one night. He hears the same story from a different voice, and it changes everything. In a moment he offers his life for that child.

Three wise me, rulers in their own country come to honor a new born king. In the search they meet Herod, who’s silky smooth voice gives them some info, makes some promises about also wanting to honor the King. When they leave they have an agreement to come back and tell him where they find the child, not realizing Herod’s goal is murder. They find the child, not at all where or what they expected, and then they too hear a different voice, changing the story, telling them go home another way, stay away from Herod. 

It all makes me wonder about the things in my own life I am trying to understand and make sense of. There are decisions that need to be made. There is not enough money for the things that seem to set before us. There is the new dream that seems so close and yet always so far away. There is the old calling laid down that seems to be rising again and wrapping itself once again around me. As I seek the way forward in all the moments of my life what am I listening to? Who’s voice am I hearing? What story is playing through my heart? Is it the right voice? The right story?

There is an enemy in this world. He’s lost every battle, yet he is a master counterfeiter, who is often telling us stories that lead us astray, confuse our thinking, and when we listen to and follow those stories, when we allow the wrong stories to be the filter for our lives, we end up making choices that leave us lost and hurt.

So how do we hear God’s voice? How do we tell the difference in a world of constant sound bites designed to make us deaf and thoughtless followers of the malevolent machine? When our minds are telling us it’s one story because we’re thinking we’re hearing the voice of the great story, but then it doesn’t seem to be the right story, how can we know? When two voices are telling us two stories, how can we tell which is the right story, the one we’re supposed to be a part of?

Two things come to mind this morning. First, be quiet. Put down the phone, turn off the music. Put the ear buds away. Turn off the tv and the computer. Choose to just stop and be quiet. In all the ancient stories the voice of God shouts in the silence. It can feel like peace. It can also feel really hard. But you’ll find you hear a lot better without all the extra voices.

Second, spend time with the real story. That’s the beauty of the Scriptures. At Christmas, the world is telling us a completely different story, and even the church is often telling us a different story. People have used and manipulated the scriptures, twisted the story and stolen the voices. But if we’ll look, the ancient words are still telling us the real story. They aren’t God himself. They aren’t even the whole story. They are snippets captured for us revealing the heart and character of God, the victories and failures of humanity. They are telling us His story and our story.

The world is going to try and write your story. The culture is going to try and write your story. Your pain and hurt and brokenness is going to feel like your story. The screaming voices and consuming cravings oozing from your wounded and broken heart are not your story. So…..

Be Quiet….. 

Listen….. 

Your amazing, loving Creator and Father is still writing your Christmas story today. Hear His voice. Listen to the story His heart is speaking into yours. He is making all things new.