Listening for His Voice

A Reflection on the First Reading for Sunday, March 1, 2026:
Second Sunday of Lent

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Genesis
12.1-4 

The Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

I’m currently in a season of discernment. Ahead of me, the road has forked. There’s the path that goes straight ahead, a perfect continuation of the steps I have been taking for over 40 years, and there’s the path on the left that is both the same and yet incredibly new and full of unforeseen challenges.

On my current path, I have a pretty good sense of what types of obstacles are ahead of me. I’ve gotten pretty good at checking my blind spots on this path. I know what kinds of perils are likely to crop up. I know when I can slow my pace to rest, and when I need to speed up to avoid dangers. While it’s not perfectly safe – because what path is – it is familiar. I can picture the person I will become if I stay on this beautiful, familiar path.

On the other path, I can’t see very far ahead. I have big ideas for how that walk will go. I’ve researched how to navigate some of the dangers and pitfalls ahead of me. I can imagine the version of myself that steps on that path, but not who I will become over the course of my hike. I have a sense that I’m being invited there, but I can’t yet tell if it’s my voice or the voice Abram heard. I have no certainty.

In my prayers, I wonder how Abram felt. I also wonder how people felt who pushed down a new path out of a desire for change or challenge. 

I suspect Abram was scared. After all, God’s call is built on the prerequisite that Abram will leave behind every comfort and security he has ever known. He is going to a place where, if he fails, no earthly person will be able to bail him out. The promise of glory and blessing scarcely accounts for the danger ahead. The only thing that would convince me to do the same as Abram would be direction from God.

On the other hand, I know all too well how it feels to step out on my own without God’s direction. I have convinced myself in the past that the voice I heard telling me to do the new, big thing was God’s voice and not my own pride. I know exactly what it looks like to start out full of energy and excitement only to crash and burn, hurting myself and often others. While I did grow from those experiences, it was often from the ashes of my failures.

So, the answer continues to be to wait and pray until I know whose voice it is I’m hearing. Because God likely won’t tell me in a burning bush, rushing wind, or booming voice – but instead in the still, small voice in my heart. I have to stop. Take my time. The voice will speak if I have ears to listen. All I have to do is go where He points.




Stéphanie Potter​

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