God Speaks — What Does He Sound Like?

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you just wished God would tell you what to do? I certainly have and for a long time I was resigned to the fact that I am just not one of those privileged people whom God spoke to. But boy, was I wrong. God speaks! And he does so in a way that is personal to us. He also really wants to make himself heard. I used to often think that figuring out what God wants is like taking part in the hardest scavenger hunt ever. The clues are deliberately cryptic and confusing, and it’s only the holiest people who can decipher it. Again, I couldn’t have been more wrong.   

You see, talking to God is like trying to have a conversation with a friend in a noisy bar. You may shout until you’re hoarse, but you will still not be heard clearly unless you step out of the noisy place. Our life is like that noisy bar. We need to cut out the many noises we are constantly bombarded with that drown out God’s voice. So, before we can hear God’s voice, recognise it as his, and discern what it means, there is a little bit of work that needs to be done. In other words, hearing God’s voice does not happen overnight. The good news, however, is that this is by no means something only attainable by monks and hermits. It is something that God personally invites each one of us, the average person living a regular life in the world to do.

What to do to hear God

We have all probably heard it being said that God tends to prefer whispering than shouting. To be able to hear it, we not so much need to keep our ears open but rather cultivate an interior silence in our mind and soul. So, after removing all the distractions in our daily routine, spending time in prayer is key to developing an interior silence. One needs to gradually grow from spending half an hour in prayer each morning to developing a habit of talking to God throughout the day. Whenever something is on your mind, instead of mulling over it by yourself, talk to God about it. Fr Gregory Pine, O.P. has this to say about forming this habit, “Consciously remember that God is with us at all times and talk to him throughout the day. We are not meant to have conversations about ourselves with ourselves, it is to be broken open to be done with God.”

In developing this habit of conversing with God at all times, the Holy Spirit is our ally. Every time you remember, say ‘Come, Holy Spirit’ and the Advocate eagerly and immediately responds to your call. Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to help us before he ascended to heaven. It is indeed the saddest reality that most of us do not invoke the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit that have already been given to us in our day to day living. Inviting the Holy Spirit into your life is the gamechanger that will help you to nurture an interior state that is sensitive to God’s promptings. And the Holy Spirit does not disappoint, he will change your life.

Over time, the habit of talking to God continuously will develop into a mature conversation, where we are not just talking all the time but also listening. It is certainly a struggle to achieve this merely by our own efforts, but with frequent receipt of the Sacraments – confession and Holy Communion – as well as spending time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, we receive the sustenance we need to persevere in our endeavour. With all these, we are striving to arrive at a state where God is a familiar and constant presence in our mind and soul so that we are able to see, hear, and recognise him in all the ways that he chooses to reveal himself to us.  

Hearing God: Is it really him?

With your interior state prepared, you will begin to recognise the distinct characteristics of God’s voice. You will learn that God’s voice actually sounds like your own voice. You might hear it in the form of an inspiring phrase that lifts your spirit, a gentle prompting to do something, a gut instinct about a decision or a warm feeling of assurance. Often these messages from God will leave your heart burning, giving you an excitement to do what he wants you to. His message is also often repetitive, so don’t worry that you might have missed something he’s said, he is persistent. God’s message also has a weight to it, not one that induces heaviness but a weight that gives you a sense that it is something important.

God speaks to us through many means. He sends us messages in the stillness of prayer and in the vibrant colours, sounds and moves of creation. He speaks to us in a big way through Scripture and he also often makes other people his messengers, family, friends, priests, teachers, even strangers. In all of these, it is important that we recognise which is his voice and which are lies of the evil one. Cultivating a heart that is attuned to God through prayer and the Sacraments is the first step towards this. Another simple way to recognise God’s voice is through the fruits that it produces. St Ignatius of Loyola said that God’s voice is recognisable by two tell-tale signs: peace and joy. God never shames, insults, condemns, induces guilt or anxiety. Even in difficult circumstances, God’s voice will leave you with a promise of hope, consolation and encouragement, never with feelings of dejection, heaviness, disturbance or fear.

The Lord has lots to say to each one of us. Trust that he is reaching out to you to make himself heard and respond by preparing your heart, mind and soul to hear and recognise his voice. “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.” (John 10:3-4) KA