When he has
brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him
because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact,
they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's
voice." John 10:4-5 (NIV)
Throughout my
years of teaching—whether I was at a writers conference, womens retreat or a
Bible study—probably the question I’ve been asked the most has been, “How do I
know it’s really God speaking to me?”
The answer is at
once very simple and very hard. You can tell it’s God’s voice, because you
recognize it.
Voice is a
technical term for writers and is the quality that makes an author’s writing
unique. It encapsulates the author’s attitude, personality, and character.
As a writer,
voice is vitally important in two ways:
We have to
come to embrace and utilize the uniqueness of our own personal voice when we
write. This is a topic of craft.
We also have
to come to recognize God’s voice so that we can share what He has for us to
share. This is a topic of the heart.
So back to the
original question, how do we
recognize God’s voice?
How do we
recognize anyone’s voice—by becoming familiar with the timber, pitch and way of
speaking.
I’m sure
everyone’s had the unsettling experience of answering the phone and having
someone launch into a personal conversation without identifying themselves.
Sometimes I can spend several minutes trying to figure out who I’m speaking with.
This rarely
happens when the person at the other end of the line is a good friend. The
reason? Because I know the voice of those I spend time with. (The only time I
don’t recognize a close friend is if there’s interference on the line…and that’s
a subject for a future devotion.)
To recognize
God’s voice we have to spend time with Him—quality time—in prayer, worship and
study. With that commitment of time comes the reward of a deep relationship and
the assurance of knowing whose voice we hear.
This doesn’t mean
there aren’t still times when I question whether or not it’s God speaking, but
I can say with certainty that those times become less and less, the closer I
get to God.
What are some
ways you’ve found to recognize God’s voice? I’d love to hear your stories.
It's true that it is familiarity that helps us recognize when God is speaking to us. By attending to a personal relationship with God, I sense His 'urgings' thru an intimate connection of trust. I remember feeling unsure if it was God's direction in my life. Now, I just know.
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely right, Edie. The more we talk to God and read His Word, the better able we are to recognize when He's talking to us. When we're unsure, He will speak to us again.
ReplyDeleteHe did this to me when he told me to tell others what He's done in my life to heal me. He didn't stop until I did something about it.
Hi Edie,
ReplyDeleteI love how He talks to us by correlating one Scripture with another, making the whole Bible fit together like one huge jigsaw puzzle. If the "voice" I hear is not according to His grace and His truth, then it is probably one His enemies, trying to distract and destroy.
Megan
As I've become closer to Him, I've been very surprised how much He talks to me. Little things that help me see the beauty in a common moment. It's hard to describe the joy it brings me.
ReplyDeleteI do have what I lovingly call "frying pan syndrome." Often, especially when He's asking me to do something I don't want to do, I ignore His voice. Eventually, He bops me in the head with something I can no longer ignore. That's how He moved me from being an engineer to a Bible-study writer. It was a pretty big frying pan. :)
I've found God's speaking to be direct, decisive.(go here, do this) If it's vague or questioning,(should you..? maybe I should..) that is NOT from God.
ReplyDelete