Week 2: Listening to God (How to Hear God's Voice)
“The truth of the matter is, we all come to prayer with a tangled mass of motives—altruistic and selfish, merciful and hateful, loving and bitter. Frankly, this side of eternity we will never unravel the good from the bad, the pure from the impure. But what I have come to see is that God is big enough to receive us with all our mixture. We do not have to be bright, or pure, or filled with faith, or anything. That is what grace means, and not only are we saved by grace, we live by it as well. And we pray by it.”
Richard J. Foster, from Prayer, page 8
As a little boy, sitting with my grandmother in church, I had difficulty reading the liturgy. She saw I was distraught at not being able to recite some of the written prayers, and she quickly reminded me that prayer was not about reading, but more about speaking. As important as written prayers are, what God wants is for us to speak to Him from our hearts. She taught me that prayer is having a conversation with God and encouraged me to speak to God as if I were speaking to my best friend. God’s primary purpose for each of us is relational, and the key to this relationship is communication.
Being in relationship with God was His primary purpose. We learn this from the creation stories. “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27, NIV) His desire in creating us was relational in nature, and that relationship began with Him. Knowing this makes us realize the importance of communication. God speak to us and He wants us to speak to Him. This is what prayer is all about. It is being connected to God through our language. Whether it is speaking or listening, the point of having a conversation with God is to know Him and for Him to know us.
Richard Foster has written a wonderful book called Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home. Simple prayer, he writes, is coming to God just as we are (p.9). There is no pretense. It is an honest interaction between the lover and the beloved. Unfortunately, it is easy to lose sight of this and often prayer can become a performance. When this happens, prayer becomes a rote act rather than an intimate dance.
I have learned that prayer is as much about listening as it is about speaking. Too much speaking can often become a distraction. Listening is about being present to the Voice of God. Often this begins first by creating head and heart space, by finding ways to step away from the busyness of our lives. Confession and absolution is a place to start to prepare our hearts to listen for His Voice. After emptied silence becomes a true companion, introducing words from Scripture and spending time quietly meditating allows God to speak to me through His Word. This is how I most often hear His voice. With pen and pad handy, journaling allows me to jot down what I hear. It is from this spot that I feel most connected to God.
Hearing the Voice of God can happen in many different ways and is not limited to Scripture. God speaks to us through trusted companions. He speaks to us within our liturgical tradition of worship. He speaks to us through spoken prayers and through preaching and teaching. What lies at the heart of the matter is whether we are open and ready to hear His voice. If we are, the ways the Spirit can speak to us are endless.
Listening and hearing the voice of God is similar to listening and hearing the voice of a trusted friend. It is from these words and through God’s grace that we will be the men and women He has called us to be. With this in mind, let us see prayer as an opportunity to develop deeper relationships with Him. God desires nothing more than being in communion with each of us.
“Coming to prayer is like coming home,” Foster says. “Nothing feels more right, more like what we are created to be and do.”
Richard J. Foster, from Prayer
