The Voice of God
I know people who claim to hear the voice of God. Sometimes I think they are simply hearing their own wishes.
The human brain has an amazing ability to see patterns, to find or create meaning. We are seekers of symmetry. For this reason, sometimes I have been a person who thought she heard the voice of God, when perhaps I was simply making meaning I wanted to make, when I was collecting pieces for some desired symmetry.
At times I have, therefore, felt very down about the whole voice-of-God issue.
I don't think we will ever get it totally right. Sometimes we are just going to be making stuff up and attributing it to God. Still, if we could even get it right about half of the time, that might move our lives forward in a good way. I would accept those odds, all things considered.
In Chapter 6 of Sanctuary of the Soul, Foster suggests three attributes of the voice of God...
- quality: "a steady, calm force"
- spirit: "peaceful, joyful"
- content: "consistent with [biblical] truths about God's nature and kingdom"
I like these indicators. Maybe it could help me move to the 75% range, if I paid attention.
But even if I never know for sure, I can measure my actions against scripture and church tradition—the voice of God as experienced by a cumulative community over time. It is not all up to me. I can hear through the ears of others who have blessed the world.
The human brain has an amazing ability to see patterns, to find or create meaning. We are seekers of symmetry. For this reason, sometimes I have been a person who thought she heard the voice of God, when perhaps I was simply making meaning I wanted to make, when I was collecting pieces for some desired symmetry.
At times I have, therefore, felt very down about the whole voice-of-God issue.
I don't think we will ever get it totally right. Sometimes we are just going to be making stuff up and attributing it to God. Still, if we could even get it right about half of the time, that might move our lives forward in a good way. I would accept those odds, all things considered.
In Chapter 6 of Sanctuary of the Soul, Foster suggests three attributes of the voice of God...
- quality: "a steady, calm force"
- spirit: "peaceful, joyful"
- content: "consistent with [biblical] truths about God's nature and kingdom"
I like these indicators. Maybe it could help me move to the 75% range, if I paid attention.
But even if I never know for sure, I can measure my actions against scripture and church tradition—the voice of God as experienced by a cumulative community over time. It is not all up to me. I can hear through the ears of others who have blessed the world.
Labels: Richard Foster, Sanctuary of the Soul, spiritual practice
posted by L.L. Barkat at
10:21 PM
3 Comments:
just started crying....
just
thank you
I did once. It wasn't very nice.
I have a friend who is always saying, "God told me." and She says it so much that I am thinking its just a verbal trick she is using to get others to listen to her.
"What I'm saying is really really important. In fact, God told me..."
What happens is that no one listens to her. And the really sad affect of this, is that maybe we won't listen to God when He DOES speak. We just don't want to be like her.
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