“And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.” — Isaiah 30:20–21
Isn’t that some great imagery? Having every step guided by the whispers of the One who sees us and knows the plans He has for us. The One who created us, knows us best, and loves us the most. The One who accounts for every strand of hair on our head, even if that number changes every day. How great is our God, right?
Isaiah has always been a favorite book of mine. God’s redemptive power is displayed so mightily in this book, time and time again. We watch His people stumble, fall, and rise again by His grace. Kind of reminds you of our own lives here on the big dusty ball called earth, doesn’t it?
God Is Near
So for me, the joy in this passage is that God is near. No matter how many wrong turns we’ve made, no matter what ditch we’ve veered off into, no matter how far from His path we’ve strayed, we are promised this:
“For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, ‘In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.'” — Isaiah 30:15
Read that again slowly. Returning. Rest. Quietness. Trust. Those aren’t exactly the words that define most leaders’ daily experience. Most of us are running at a pace that makes it nearly impossible to hear anything, let alone the still, small voice of God whispering direction over our shoulder.
And that’s the tension every leader has to face honestly. We serve a God who promises to guide our steps. But the guidance comes in a whisper, not a shout. And if we’ve filled our lives with so much noise, so much activity, so much urgency, we can walk right past the very voice we claim to be following.
When You Can’t Hear Him
If the Word is Truth, and we are told He is always near and never forsakes us, then if we aren’t “feeling” His presence, the problem must lie with us. That’s a hard sentence for a leader to sit with. But it’s an important one.
Perhaps we have lost sight of what really matters in this life. Perhaps our feet are ensnared in the sin that so easily entangles us. It could be that our eyes are fixed not on our Creator, but on the things created. Our hearts so easily bow to the tangibles around us, things that fulfill the failing flesh. Our own self-imposed distance from God and the light of His Word will blind our eyes from the reality of His perfect presence among us.
For leaders, this distance doesn’t usually happen all at once. It’s gradual. You start missing your time in the Word because the schedule is packed. You stop praying with any real depth because there are too many fires to put out. You surround yourself with voices that affirm your plans rather than voices that challenge your heart. And slowly, without realizing it, you’ve moved from being led by God to just leading on your own. You’re still doing ministry. You’re still in the role. But the voice behind you saying “this is the way” has become harder and harder to hear. Not because He stopped speaking, but because you stopped creating the conditions to listen.
Buried under the rubble of our busyness and self-reliance is the small voice of the Comforter, our Teacher, the Holy Spirit. Remember, He is not hidden. But at times our flesh stifles His still, small voice within us.
The Way Back
Again, the good news is that in repentance we are saved. Our blinded eyes will open again to the wonder of the Word made flesh, the Lord of our lives. Our ears will now hear the gentle voice of our Shepherd speaking over our shoulder, “This is the way you should go.” Our hearts will be strengthened as we choose the path of quietness and trust over all the other fast-paced highways this life can offer. Every step will be guided and guarded by our Shield and Defender. Our Prince of Peace will reign as only He can in the depths of our hearts.
I love that Isaiah doesn’t sugarcoat the journey. Look at the opening of the passage again: “the bread of adversity and the water of affliction.” God doesn’t promise that hearing His voice will mean an easy road. In fact, it’s often in the hardest seasons that His voice becomes most clear, because those are the seasons that strip away everything else we’ve been listening to. Adversity has a way of tuning your ears to the frequency of heaven. When everything else gets quiet, whether by choice or by circumstance, that’s when you hear Him most clearly.
For leaders, this is actually an invitation disguised as difficulty. The season that feels like it’s dismantling you may be the very season God is using to recalibrate your hearing. He’s not punishing you with adversity. He’s positioning you to hear Him in a way you never could when things were comfortable and moving fast.
What Hearing Does to Your Leadership
When a leader learns to hear from God, it transforms how they make decisions, how they develop people, and how they carry the mission. You stop reacting and start responding. You stop guessing and start following. You trade anxiety-driven leadership for Spirit-led leadership, and the people around you can tell the difference.
I’ve watched leaders go from frantic to focused simply because they learned to slow down long enough to hear what God was actually saying. Not what they hoped He was saying. Not what their board wanted Him to say. What He was actually saying. That kind of clarity is rare, and it only comes to leaders who value quietness and trust over speed and control.
That’s what makes a reliable messenger. Not someone who has all the answers, but someone who knows where to go to get them. A leader who has learned to hear from God and then has the courage to act on what they’ve heard, even when it doesn’t make sense to the people around them. That’s the kind of leader people trust with their future.
Next Steps for the Leader Who Wants to Hear
Pray this prayer today. Sometimes the simplest starting point is the most powerful: “Lord, give me the quietness of soul to hear You speaking in my life today.” That’s it. Don’t overcomplicate it. Just ask. And then create the space for Him to answer.
Identify what’s drowning out His voice. Be honest about the noise in your life. Is it your schedule? Your phone? The constant input of other people’s opinions? The anxiety loop that plays in your head when things are uncertain? You don’t necessarily need to eliminate all of it. But you do need to recognize what’s competing with God’s voice and intentionally turn the volume down on it this week.
Return before you strategize. If you’ve drifted, don’t start with a new plan. Start with a return. Isaiah 30:15 says it plainly: “In returning and rest you shall be saved.” Before you try to figure out the next move, come back to Him. Repentance isn’t dramatic. It’s directional. It’s simply turning around and walking back toward the voice you wandered away from.
Build “hearing” rhythms into your week. Leaders are good at building systems for everything else. Build one for hearing from God. Maybe it’s a morning practice of reading a short passage and sitting in silence for five minutes. Maybe it’s a weekly walk with no earbuds where you just talk to God and listen. Maybe it’s journaling what you sense He’s saying and reviewing it monthly. Whatever it looks like, make hearing from God a structural part of your leadership, not an afterthought.
Trust what you hear and act on it. Hearing from God without responding is just spiritual entertainment. When He speaks, move. Even if the step is small. Even if it doesn’t make sense yet. Even if nobody else around you hears what you’re hearing. The more you respond to what He says, the more clearly you’ll hear Him the next time. That’s how the relationship works. Obedience sharpens your hearing. Disobedience dulls it.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” — Revelation 3:20
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” — Romans 10:17
“Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” — Hebrews 12:2
He’s speaking. He’s near. The question isn’t whether He has something to say to you today. The question is whether you’ll slow down long enough to hear it.