How do I know it is really God's voice? How do I know if what I feel inside is the Holy Spirit guiding me or my own ideas trying to run the show? How do I know if the way I feel in my body is really peace or if I just want to believe it is? How can I be sure I'm following the right desires? How can I guarantee what God is telling me so I don't get hurt?
Have you ever asked any of these questions or some version of them? I for sure have. And I get to chat with a lot of people who are wondering these same things.
I appreciate these words from my friend Christine Westhoff in her book About the Voice of God: A Guide for the Journey - "Learning to hear God's voice is an intensely nuanced conversation. We can too easily talk about it as if we can teach people a simple list of spiritual gymnastics to put into practice in order to learn a skill of some kind. When instead, it's an all-consuming, never-ending journey of opening our hearts to love and be loved, to see and be seen, to hold and be held."
So how do we learn to recognize God's voice? Well, we spend a lifetime practicing.
There are a lot of things I could say about the voice of God, but for today, I think I want to focus in on the importance of noticing.
In 2017, I heard Beth Guckenberger talk about Psalm 23. She had been to Israel, and on her trip her tour guide stopped to show them where the sheep were grazing. Beth showed us a picture of what she saw. It was incredibly rocky terrain, nothing like we imagine when we think of the green pastures in Psalm 23. In fact, it didn't even look like there was any visible grass around.
The tour guide explained to their group how this Judean wilderness is what David was writing about. The shepherd leads the sheep through this rocky land, looking for tufts of grass hidden among the rocks where just enough moisture has become trapped, allowing grass to grow. The sheep move across the rocky terrain, listening to the shepherd's voice, who points out where the grass is growing. The sheep eat their mouthful of grass and then move to the next tuft and then the next.
The sheep depend on the shepherd's voice to lead them from tuft to tuft. It is a moment by moment trust. They need to recognize their shepherd's voice to know where they can find the next tuft of sustenance. The sheep become so familiar with their shepherd that their shepherd's particular voice is distinguishable from all other voices.
As it is with us. To recognize the voice of our good shepherd, we have to practice noticing it. I don't know about you, but I have never heard an audible voice from God. So, if God doesn't speak to me out loud, how do I come to know the voice of God at all?
I find Scripture to be a place where I notice God's voice clearly. As I read, the words leap off of the page and stir the Spirit within me. Through these words, the voice of God becomes distinguishable from other voices. I find in Scripture clarity about how to care for my neighbor, how to love my enemy, how to stand up for what is right, how to ask for forgiveness, how to practice self-control, and how to love more perfectly. In Scripture I see Jesus, the way he lived, and how we are invited to look more like him in all that we say and do. In Scripture I see the Spirit, and am reminded of how the Spirit helps me name areas in which I am invited to grow and transform.
Another place I practice noticing God's voice is within my body. I personally notice the Holy Spirit in my body through pictures that come to mind, through feelings in my body, and through the emotions I experience. God gave us bodies. After Jesus was resurrected, he still has a body. Our bodies are a place where God communicates with us.
At times I notice God's voice through the words of other people. God gave us community to learn from, to challenge each other, and to help us love well.
Scripture, our bodies, and community are sometimes used against us as weapons. So how do we distinguish God's voice in these spaces from voices that want to cause harm? This is where practice comes in.
Misinterpretation of Scripture doesn't actually change the Bible; it just communicates faulty information. We have to do our own reading and learning so that we can be familiar with the God of the Bible. The more distinguishable the good shepherd's voice becomes to us, the more aware we are when it is distorted. The more we practice noticing God's voice, the more easily we can say Oh, that's not how a good shepherd cares for their sheep.
Noticing God's voice through our bodies means being able to weigh how we feel against what we know about God. If we are angry and make a plan to act out of our anger, we can be sure God is not inviting us down that path. The Bible tells us it is fine to feel angry, but it isn't fine to lash out in our anger.
Learning from the wisdom and experience of others is a gift, but it isn't perfect. We make mistakes. We get things wrong. Sometimes a person communicates what they believe God said, but it's really just what they want others to do, and it doesn't actually involve God at all. This can be damaging and make it hard to distinguish the good shepherd's voice.
To practice noticing God's voice, we need time to pause and consider:
Does what I am hearing line up with what I know about God's character?
Is there something about God's character that I've gotten wrong and need to reconsider?
Would God be inviting me to do something that is going to cause harm to myself or others?
Who can I talk to that could help me think through if what I'm hearing really is from God?
What past experiences have I had when I know I heard from God?
How does my body feel when I know God is talking with me?
What if I don't feel anything in my body? Can God still be talking to me?
When have I thought I heard God's voice but it turned out differently than I expected?
God's voice is at times a great mystery and at times a familiar friend. Don't be afraid to practice noticing and see what you discover.
~ Melissa