Not long ago I heard a story about a young man and an old preacher. The young man had lost his job and didn't know which way to turn. So he went to see the old preacher.

Pacing about the preacher's study, the young man ranted about his problem. Finally he clenched his fist and shouted, "I've begged God to say something to help me. Tell me, Preacher, why doesn't God answer?"

The old preacher, who sat across the room, spoke something in reply, something so hushed it was indistinguishable. The young man stepped across the room. "What did you say?" he asked.

The preacher repeated himself, but again in a tone as soft as a whisper. So the young man moved closer until he was leaning on the preacher's chair. "Sorry," he said. "I still didn't hear you."

With their heads bent together, the old preacher spoke once more. "God sometimes whispers," he said, "so we will move closer to hear Him." This time the young man heard and he understood.

The next time you think that God is ignoring you, it may be that He is whispering to you, with the knowledge that it will draw you closer to Him.

In Psalm 73, the psalmist struggles with the fact that the wicked are prospering, and he is tempted to conclude that it doesn't do any good to do what is right (if you're struggling with the same thing, this is a great chapter to read and meditate on).

But, in the end, the psalmist concludes that he is being "foolish and ignorant" (73:22). When it seemed that God was nowhere to be found, the psalmist was led by God's whispering to "draw near":

"But it is good for me to draw near to God;
I have put my trust in the Lord God,
That I may declare all Your works."
(Psalm 73:28)

May the whispers of God in your life
draw you closer to Him.