The voice of the LORD is over the waters,
The voice of the LORD is powerful,
The voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars.
Ps. 29:3-5
God is not silent
The God who made the heavens and earth and all that is in them is not a silent God. He is a living God and we should expect to hear from Him. The people of the Old Testament seemed to have a much stronger understanding of the voice of God than we do these days. They recognised His voice in all kinds of "natural" events, something we seem to have lost in our present age where science and technology seem to provide an explanation for everything. Does God speak? Yes He does and in many ways.

If He is the living and true God then he must surely speak to the people of this earth.
False gods are unable to speak or even respond to our prayers as the prophets of Baal discovered when they were challenged by Elijah on Mt. Carmel as we read in 1 Kings 18:

So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, "O, Baal hear us!" But there was no voice; no one answered.
1Kings 18:26
Elijah mocked them saying that perhaps Baal was busy, or meditating, on a journey or asleep. Of course Baal could not answer because he does not exist, he is just the work of men's hands and the imagination of their minds. But the LORD did answer and proved that He is the living and true God and the people fell on their faces and cried, "The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God" (v.39).
Yes, God does speak.
We need to go back to the beginning and see how it was in the garden of Eden. The LORD spoke with Adam regularly and with great familiarity, the LORD would visit Adam in the cool of the day. From Genesis 2 and 3 we have a good picture of the relationship that Adam and the LORD enjoyed with each other. But, as we know sin entered and the relationship was broken, the LORD drove the man from His presence, sinful man and a holy God could no longer meet together.
From this point the Bible tells the wonderful story of how the LORD instead of giving up on his creation set about restoring the relationship and bringing reconciliation, He provided the means of atonement, which in due time meant He would send His Son to provide a full reconciliation through the merit of His propitiatory death on the cross.

How does God speak?

"His voice is over the waters."
Waters in scripture often refers to nations and large numbers of people. God has a message for every person on this earth. He wants us to know that He exists and that He has something to say to us, even before we are saved.
He speaks through His creation:

The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world.
Ps 19
For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.
Rom. 1:20
In the testimony of the created world, its beauty, order and majesty God has set a sign of His existence. We ought to look upon the universe with great awe and wonder and believe that there is a much higher being than ourselves behind it all. This witness of the natural world is often refered to as "general revelation" that is it tells us that there must be a God without revealing much else about Him.
God has also given "specific revelation" about himself through His Word and the proclamation of His word by His people:
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
Rom. 10:14
The passage in Rom. 10 goes on to speak about the sound of the gospel going out into the world and how "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God." Through His word God has given specific revelation about His own character, about man's condition and about the way of salvation. Through the reading, preaching and teaching of the word we learn specifics about the kingdom of God which cannot be discovered in any other way.

Through these two methods, the witness of creation and the preaching of the gospel, God is speaking to the unsaved people of this world. Satan does not want the voice of God to be heard so he does all he can to prevent this, by science (especially the deceit of evolution), by the propogation of multifaith universalism, by false religion, and by many other deceits he blinds the minds of unbelievers to the truth (2Cor. 3,4).
We should also note that in His determination that the world shoud hear His voice God has sent the Holy Spirit to "convict the world of sin, righteousness and of judgement."
God is speaking to the world that they may acknowledge Him, that they may realise their need of Him and specifically that they may realise they are sinners and that in His great love and mercy He has provided a Saviour by sending His Son Jesus to die for their sins and He now commands all men to repent (see Acts 17:22-31).
Having listened to and responded to the voice of God in faith and repentance we are brought into a right relationship with Him, we are reconciled, brought into God's family and begin to enjoy that relationship with Him in the way He always intended before sin broke the relationship. We are now able to hear His voice in a new and better way.

The Voice of God in the Life of the Believer
Let's turn to John's gospel chapter 10, here Jesus is talking about Himself as the Good Shepherd and about His flock, those who have turned to Him in faith and repentance. We should notice the things He says about that relationship between the Shepherd and His sheep:

From all those words of Jesus it should be clear that as His followers we ought to be hearing His voice loud and clear. Why do so many have a problem with this? We often hear, "God seems so far away." God doesn't speak to me." "Why is God silent?".
The simple and straight forward answer to such questions is that if we are not hearing the voice of Jesus then the fault is with ourselves, I cannot believe in a silent God. He has done so much to restore the relationship that we may know Him as our Heavenly Father, and His Son Jesus as our Good Shepherd, surely He wants to enjoy that relationship and wants us to enjoy it too. If God seems distant then we need to examine ourselves. Is there some sin in my life that hinders the relationship? Am I indeed taking time to spend with the Lord? Am I neglecting my personal devotions and quiet times? Our relationship with God is like any other human relationship, if you want to get to know a person you must spend time with them, if you want to know God and enjoy a deep intimacy with Him you must spend time with Him. I guarantee you will soon be hearing His voice on a daily basis if you make the effort to spend time in His presence.

Hearing His voice
God has many ways to communicate with us both as individuals and corporately when we meet together:
Individually:
There are many, many examples in the Bible where individuals heard the voice of God personally. We could name Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, the prophets and many others who heard His voice clearly and precisely. Here are just 3 examples:

Elijah - 1Kings 19:12, Elijah heard God speak to him in a "still, small voice." God spoke to him about his personal feelings and situation and God gave him work to do.
Philip - Acts 8:26, 29 - God had a job for Philip and spoke to him firstly by an angel, secondly by the Holy Spirit.
Ananias - Acts 9:10-16 - God appeared to Ananias in a vision and spoke to him very precisely about going to see Saul.

The Lord can speak to us directly and very personally, He can use angels to convey His message to us, He can speak in a vision, He can speak to us by the Holy Spirit. He can of course speak to us through the reading of His word. What a great richness and variety of ways in which our Heavenly Father can "get through" to us. It highlights His willingness and determination to have a deep and meaningful relationship with His redeemed people.

Corporately:
By now we should be convinced that our God certainly wants to speak with us and we should be hearing His voice regularly, clearly and precisely. This is true for every believer.
As well as this He speaks to us when we gather together for fellowship in His name. We ought to expect Him to speak at such times.
Congregational worship has always been an important part of the lives of God's people, in Psalm 42 the psalmist is lamenting the sorry state he finds himself in and remembers the times of joy he had when meeting with the people of God, "I used to go with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast" (:4). The children of Israel had set feasts throughout the year when they came together to celebrate, worship and remember the works of God (see Lev. 23). These were times of great blessing.

Fellowship is a very important aspect of the christian life and the Lord meets with us in a special way when we gather together:

2Chron. 20 - During Jehoshaphat's reign Israel was threatend by the Moabites and Ammonites who mustered a great army which Israel could not stand against. So Jehoshaphat called the people together to fast and pray. As they prayed the Spirit fell upon Jahaziel who prophesied a clear word to the people and gave instructions. The people stood on the word of the Lord and a great victory was won.
God spoke into the situation when the people gathered together to seek Him.

Acts 13:1-3 - The prophets and teachers in the church were fasting and praying together, the Holy Spirit spoke to them and Paul and Barnabas were sent out to fulfill their ministry.

1Cor. 12-14 - The gifts of the Spirit: when we gather together the Lord can speak to His people and bless them through the operation of the gifts of the Spirit. We are enabled to minister to each other the the word of the Lord. Prophecy is highlighted as a sign to unbelievers that God is present in the congregation (14:24,25). Notice how many of the gifts involve "speaking out" - the word of wisdom; the word of knowledge; prophecy; tongues and interpretation of tongues.

Eph. 4:11ff - The Lord gifts some to be ministers - they preach and teach the word of God to His people for the building up of the body of Christ.

Rev. 2,3 - The Lord Jesus has a message for the 7 churches, He gives the message to the apostle John who writes to the "angel" of the church. The result is "what the Spirit says" to each church.

Our church meetings then should be characterised by the voice of God, we ought to hear his voice during such meetings. If His voice is not heard then something is wrong!
What is very interesting is how God uses His people to proclaim His message, whether through prophecy, preaching, a gift of the Spirit etc. In this way all hear the message together, all can test the message and all can come to agreement concerning what God is saying, God's people are built up and united together in serving Him.

Meeting together as God's people brings us special times of blessing, individually we have a range of emotions and spirtual vitality, some may be sad, discouraged, distracted while others are rejoicing on the mountain tops, as we come together our praise and worship lifts us all together into God's presence, we help each other to focus our hearts and minds on the Lord and as we enter His presence our hearts are open to hear His voice. As Psalm 100 tells us, we "enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise," and we all have times where we need the strength that fellowship with our brethren brings to our feeble knees, as we join together with them in praise and worship we are able to leave behind the things that are troubling us and entering in to the presence of God can hear His voice and receive that which He has for us. To neglect fellowship with our brothers and sisters is to miss out on some very special times with God and those who do so are spiritually poorer because of it.

Exhortation from Hebrews
The book of Hebrews supplies several warnings concerning our response to the voice of God:
1:1,2 - We are reminded that in the past God spoke through the prophets, now in these last days He has spoken through His Son.
2:1-3 - We must therefore give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard.

3:1-4:7 - Three times the exhortation from Ps. 95 is quoted, "Today if you will hear His voice do not harden your hearts." This psalm is very instructive, in it we are exhorted to worship the Lord our God, He is our Maker and we are the sheep of His pasture, just as Jesus reminds us in Jn. 10. Sheep need to hear the voice of the shepherd or they will stray into danger, this is of great importance for their safety. But, as Hebrews 3,4 points out those who heard the voice of God ignored or rebelled against Him so often and incurred not His blessing but His wrath! How can we keep ourselves from such danger? By believing the word of God and keeping our hearts open to His voice, "Today if you will hear His voice, do not harden your heart!"
Our God wants to give us the best, He longs to lead us beside the still waters, He desires a deep and intimate relationship with every one of His people. He has paid the price to bring about the reconciliation and offer us a place in His family and kingdom. He longs to speak with His children, we should be hearing His voice. We cannot afford to ignore Him.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will guide you with my eye.
Do not be like the horse or like the mule which have no understanding,
Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle or they will not come near you.
Ps. 32:8,9
Are we stubborn like a mule?
Does the Lord need to use tough measures to get us moving in His will?
Or:
Are our hearts so open and sensitive to the Spirit of God that we are ready to move at the slightest prompting of His voice?