Recently we posted two articles on discernment (Part 1 and Part 2). One of the points deserves some elaboration. It is the question of distinguishing between God’s voice and ideas we generate ourselves.
Quoting from our previous post: “Our own inner voice is very capable of speaking many things to us! Many confuse it with the voice of God. It can sound like another person talking. It can answer our questions, give direction, give long prophecies, teach us ideas – but none of it is from God. We should never underestimate the power of the human soul to generate all kinds of impressions that may seem like they are not from us. We need to be humble and seriously consider this possibility when doing discernment.”
Ironically, this problem of discerning voices becomes a bigger problem when we start believing that God does talk to us and guide us. Then we start focusing on hearing Him because we have a desire to truly follow His direction. Didn’t Jesus say that “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” (John 5:19, ESV) Shouldn’t we try to do the same thing that Jesus did?
But when we try to hear God in our many daily undertakings then our human nature begins to interfere. Our own desires secretly mingle in with the words we hear in our head. Then we begin to think that the words are from God when really they are just our own good ideas. Jesus didn’t have this problem of confusion, he could consistently discern what was from God. Until we can do that we really can’t do what Jesus did and only do what we see God doing. And if we pretend that we can we will become extremely proud and probably unbearable.
“Our own desires secretly mingle in with the words we hear in our head. Then we begin to think that the words are from God when really they are just our own good ideas.”
Our fears also interfere with our discernment. This often comes because we see or think of something that would be good to do and then we wonder if that idea was from God. Then we check with God to see if the idea was from God. Then we have a fear that it was from God and that we need to act on the idea because if we don’t we are disobeying God. Then we find ourselves acting on it. All this can happen in a split second in our head because our mind works so fast. In fact, it can happen so fast that we don’t realize that fear was a key to the whole process.
If we continue to follow these kinds of ideas we can find ourselves compulsively doing good things that God never intended for us to do. It can even begin to interfere with our daily life. We might find ourself constantly feeling compelled to help people so much that we feel captured by our fear of not helping.
When this happens it is best to raise our bar for what we accept as from God. We force ourself to only act if we truly hear a distinct voice without a lot of effort and anguish on our part. The voice should be peaceful and kind. Also, it is important to change our mode of operation to faith rather than fear. We trust that God will make things clear enough that we can discern and that if we are wrong that He will forgive. He only asks that we be open, honest and willing. We don’t have to be right or else.
Another issue related to fear is the problem of changing channels. As we grow God sometimes changes the channel that He uses to connect to us. Often He speaks with a more subtle voice as time goes on. If we keep trying to hear God in the old way we will find ourself confused and misguided. Instead, we need to be willing to hear God at a deeper level that starts out a little foggy to us but becomes stronger in time. But even when foggy there is a part of us that senses it is the distinct voice of God so we walk through the uncertainty and learn to connect on a new channel. Over time following His leading becomes an increasingly natural part of how we act; we begin to flow with Him with little effort.
