We live in a world full of voices. The voices of family, of friends, of coaches and teachers and professors and experts and celebrities.

But there is only one voice you have to listen to. That’s the gentle voice God has put within you to direct you in this life. 

We all have that voice. The problem is, it can be drowned out by the noise of the world around us. Or, we can simply choose to ignore it and do whatever we want. Whenever we do that, the voice within becomes fainter. But it never goes away. We can always start listening again.

The prophet Isaiah listened to the voice within, and it revealed amazing things to him. 

Many people mistakenly believe that the role of a prophet is to tell the future. But when you read the stories of the great prophets in the Bible, their role is quite clear: they listen to the voice of God even when everyone else has gone astray. And they call people to turn back to God and start listening to him again.

In Chapter 6 of the Book of Isaiah, we read the account of how Isaiah receives a call from God. 

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!” 

As miraculous as this seems, the truth is Isaiah probably listened to God’s voice in less dramatic ways a hundred times before that encounter, and a thousand times after. He listened to the gentle voice within, that God had placed within Isaiah and has placed within each of us.

Isaiah listened to the voice within even when it was difficult. And he kept calling people to return to God, even when it led to the fate many prophets faced: execution.

It’s not always easy to follow the voice within you. But it is always better for you and for the people around you. That voice never leads you astray. All our regrets in life come from ignoring that voice. 

When we look back on our lives, we will probably realize that there have been few moments when we didn’t know what the right thing to do was. But there were many moments when we didn’t do the right thing, not because we were confused, but because we don’t always listen to the gentle voice within. And that makes the voice grow fainter and fainter.

That's why it's so important to take a moment to listen to it every day, to listen to it whenever we're making decisions, and to discover what that voice is telling us.

What is the voice within telling you today?

Feast Day: May 9

Feast Day Shared By: Saint Pachomius