What is it like to hear the voice of God? When you say a prayer, how do you know if you’ve received an answer? For many people, the answers to these questions are elusive. But for me it is quite straight forward; God “speaks” to us very frequently – indeed, I’d say I’ve received His guidance when building this website! Hopefully I can effectively communicate the nature of God’s voice so that anyone reading this can learn to hear Him too.
First off – you shouldn’t expect to hear a physically audible voice. Dramatizations of mystical experiences will often portray the voice of God as a deep, booming sound coming from the sky, or something similar. And while that may be symbolically appropriate (a message from God can give a profound sense of clarity that may shake your view of the world), His voice will feel much more like a solution popping into you mind out of seemingly nowhere. After all, where do our thoughts come from?
It may seem like a silly question. Thoughts are usually just taken for granted, or perceived to come from within. But ancient Christians saw things differently; they were intently focused on the source of thoughts and would’ve ascribed most of them to external forces, like angels and demons.
There is a remnant of this philosophy still present in popular culture. Have you ever seen a character portrayed as having an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, each offering their own recommendations for the next action to take? When you’ve set a laudable goal and you have an awareness of what will move you toward or away from it, this interpretation of thoughts applies. The devil will try to distract and discourage you from achieving the goal, while the angel will keep you focused and offer thoughts of reassurance.
Many people set new goals at the beginning of the new year, but most will give up or quit fairly early into January or February – why? I think it’s because they are subject to spiritual forces (some might prefer to think of them as psychological processes) that sabotage their efforts. Let’s walk through some hypothetical scenarios to help explain what I mean.
A common goal people set is to lose weight; they may make a plan to start going to the gym by getting up early tomorrow morning. But what almost inevitably happens? Delays… The alarm goes off and excuses begin being offered: “I’ve got a busy day at work, I’ll go to the gym in the evening” or “I’m too tired right now, I’ll start going to the gym tomorrow.” This experience might get described as “talking themselves out of it” or “I debated going to the gym today, but…” and these thoughts will be perceived as coming from within – maybe even being their own. To the contrary, it’s best to view these thoughts as external – perhaps coming from a devil over your shoulder.
Another example: You have a bit of a sweet tooth, but as part of a new diet, you’ve decided to avoid sugary foods. You do your normal grocery shopping and as you’re walking through the bakery section (usually placed near the entrance of the store), you notice there are some cookies on sale. You are reminded of your diet and know you shouldn’t buy them, but find yourself nevertheless tempted. “You deserve a reward for sticking to the diet this long” or “No need to eat them all at once, just having one cookie after a long day isn’t a big deal.” These are addictive thoughts and are best viewed as something external to be overcome.
One final example: You’ve been going to the gym fairly regularly and you’ve done a pretty good job of sticking to your diet – but there have been some setbacks. Maybe you skipped going to the gym a few times, and gave into temptation to cheat on your diet, and as a result you haven’t lost any weight. It just feels like “two steps forward, one step back” then “one step forward, two steps back” and after a month or two, you’re right back where you started – no progress. I think this is where most people call it quits. But that sort of discouragement should also be seen as an external spiritual force.
If you are attentive, each time the devil on your shoulder tries to distract you from the goal, you should notice the angel is offering the choice to remain focused. “If you go to the gym as planned, you’ll feel better and get the day off to a good start” or “You’re doing so well on your diet, no need to buy the cookies.” Think of every choice to resist temptation as a spiritual/mental pushup. Even if you haven’t made much progress after months of mostly sticking to your goal, you are getting stronger. You will soon see fewer setbacks, and as you watch yourself get closer to the goal, motivation will be easier to maintain.
…Anyway, these are not examples of God’s voice. The purpose of these anecdotes is to help you differentiate between some of the thoughts that cross your mind. Ancient Christians had the view that we are under near constant external pressures to deviate from the righteous path that we hope to walk. It would be good to recover this way of looking at the world.
…God’s voice is a little different. You mostly already know the things you should be doing, and the things you shouldn’t – but what about when you’re unsure or totally lost? There are times when you might ask yourself “How am I going to get out of this mess?” or “Where can I go from here?” – then suddenly the answer comes to you and provides instant clarity.
Popular culture has a way of representing this dynamic as well. When a character experiences an insight or epiphany, a lightbulb will turn on over his head. Electricity is a fairly new invention, but ancient Christians had their own way of describing this feeling – a strike of lightning. This sensation can be viewed as our interaction with the voice of God. (In the Bible His voice is often characterized as thunder, but the illumination of His message to us is portrayed as lightning)
Job 37:2-5
(Elihu describing God’s power in nature)
2 Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goeth out of his mouth.
3 He directeth it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth.
4 After it a voice roareth: he thundereth with the voice of his excellency; and he will not stay them when his voice is heard.
5 God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.
Psalm 77:18
(Recalling God’s past acts)
The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.
Revelation 4:5
(Heavenly throne room)
And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
Revelation 11:19
(opening of the temple in Heaven)
And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
One of the best stories of God communicating a message in the Bible is when Moses receives the Ten Commandments. After serving as a judge for the Israelites in the desert after the Exodus, Moses is overwhelmed with disputes and advised by Jethro to appoint lower judges to help. He promptly enacts such a system, but likely wonders how to effectively impart his knowledge of God’s law to ensure righteous judgments on his behalf. This delegation of responsibility immediately precedes his reception of the Ten Commandments… (Moses asks the question, and God provides the answer)
You can of course read the story of Moses climbing to the top of Mount Sinai in a literal way, physically walking to the summit. However, there is a symbolic interpretation that I find more useful in applying this scriptural story to life. One of the Church Fathers I enjoy reading is St. Gregory of Nyssa, and he expands on this symbolic meaning in his book “The Life of Moses.”
In popular culture, when someone works to become the best at what they do, we might describe them as having reached the “peak of their profession.” Such a person may also refer to this point in their journey as having “arrived at the mountain top.” This is normal language for people that have achieved successful positions in leadership, and it is the role that Moses served in for the Israelites.
Moses is advised by Jethro to appoint lower judges (Exodus 18), but needs a way to communicate God’s law to them and the rest of the people. So he looks over his past rulings in search of a pattern that might correspond to better outcomes. Then, with a flash of lightning (Exodus 19:16), the pattern emerges – and God reveals his Law in the Ten Commandments to Moses. These are laws so transcendent, foundational, and eternal – they should be seen as being set in stone.
This is a symbolic interpretation of the Ten Commandments story. It doesn’t contradict the literal reading of events, but it adds a perspective that can be taken outside of time and applied anywhere in the past, present, or future. When you are lost, ask the question and listen for God’s answer. You don’t have to be a leader like Moses to hear the voice of God, but the more responsibility you take on, the deeper the truths that may be revealed to you.
As St. Gregory of Nyssa explains: “Scripture teaches us by these things the nature and the number of things one must accomplish in life before he would at some time dare to approach in his understanding the mountain of the knowledge of God.” The Life of Moses, page 91 – The Mountain of Divine Knowledge
Many people hear the voice of God but don’t recognize it as such, because they confuse His voice with their own thoughts. Hopefully after reading this post you can start to differentiate some of the ideas that cross your mind and eventually begin viewing them as having an external source. I believe that’s how Christians in past eras saw them.
The next time you’re feeling lost, or searching for the solution to a particular problem, consider consciously asking for a solution. If you do experience an insightful “lightbulb” moment, perhaps you’ll be able see whatever clarifying truth you’ve received as a message from God.
The following is an excerpt taken from Jordan Peterson during the discussion section of a debate about God he had with Sam Harris in 2018. Link to video (1 hour, 34 minute mark)
…
If you’ve done something wrong and you want to know how to make things better, try this exercise (It’s important that you actually believe this. So you are penitent, and you are confessing – at least to yourself).
Find a quiet place and say:
“Okay, what I did was wrong. I really want to know what [it was that] I did wrong, and I really want to know what I can do to make things right. I’m willing to accept any answer that will manifest itself to me.”
This is a prayer that will be answered – but it likely won’t be answered in the way you want it to be answered.
…
Sam Harris objects, saying he is familiar with this process and it is fully understandable in terms of human psychology – without the need of a supernatural being. Peterson replies that it is not understandable because we don’t know where the answer comes from. Then Harris concedes “we don’t know where anything comes from.”
This exchange is likely to illicit a trivializing “eye roll” from a skeptic that still takes the occurrence of thoughts for granted. But the answer to this kind of prayer is exactly the type of “thought” ancient Christians would have associated with the voice of God.
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