Knowing His Voice, Chapter 3

Knowing His Voice

"And the Lord passed by, and a great strong wind rent the mountains,

and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord;

but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake;

and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire;

and after the fire a still small voice" (1 Kings 19:11-12).

One of the most important aspects of knowing the Lord is knowing his voice.  We have a tendency to assume that the most glorious, powerful being in the universe would speak to us in a loud, bold voice, but he does not.  Elijah learned that he speaks to us in a "still small voice" (1 Kings 19:12). The nephites in the Book of Mormon who heard the voice of the Lord described it saying, "it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice, nevertheless and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the very center insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn" (3 Nephi 11:3).  Abraham received the majestic covenant blessings from God because “[he] obeyed my voice, and kept my charge" (Genesis 26:5). Conversely we are taught, "whoso receiveth not my voice is not acquainted with my voice, and is not of me" (Doctrine & Covenants 84:52).

How then do we become acquainted with the voice of the Lord?  First we must listen with our heart rather than with our ears. When Nephi admonished his brothers for not listening to the voice of the Lord he bemoaned, "ye have heard his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words" (1 Nephi 17:45). Like the life giving rays of the sun to a growing plant, the Lord's voice is felt more than it is heard.  Our hearts must first be turned to him and our minds must be single to His. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8).

Once our heart and mind is attuned to the Lord, we must then acquaint ourselves with his words.  It has been said that when we pray, we talk to God; when we read the scriptures, we hear his answers.  "Scriptures are like packets of light that illuminate our minds and give place to guidance and inspiration from on high.  They can become the key to open the channel to our communion with our Father in Heaven and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ" (Elder Richard G. Scott, Oct Conf 2011).

 

This is illustrated in the Old Testament account of the boy Samuel who was given by his faithful mother to serve Eli in the temple.  We know the story of the young lad hearing the voice of The Lord at night in the temple, responding, "Here am I." It reminds me of Isaiah who responded in a similar fashion to the Lord's question, "Whom shall I send and who will go for us?" (Isaiah 6:8) Before the foundation of the world, in the council of heaven, the Savior himself responded to the Father’s question "Whom shall I send?" by saying, “Here am I, send me.” (Abraham 3:27) My own children who have served missions have in essence declared the same thing.  

Knowing and recognizing the Lord’s voice comes with time and experience.  As a young boy, “Samuel did not yet know The Lord, neither was the word of The Lord yet revealed unto him" (1 Samuel 3:7).  As Samuel grew, he studied the scriptures, obeyed the Lord’s commandments and was thus made a great prophet, "for The Lord revealed himself to Samuel by the word of The Lord" (verse 21).  Samuel grew to know the Lord, just like we do, day by day, one experience after another. With time, he arrived to the point where he knew the voice of The Lord, implicitly.

This is the quality that our dear prophet, President Monson possessed.  He was so good at heeding the promptings of the Holy Ghost that mere whisperings are barked in his ears as trumpeted commands.  What a great example. One of my favorite President Monson stories happened in Brazil. When he was in Curitiba, dedicating the temple, he looked around while putting the last bit of mortar on the cornerstone and saw a boy in a cap and said, "there is a little boy there. He looks cold. Let's have him come up." It turns out that he was six years old and had a very aggressive brain tumor and was not expected to live long. Elder Nelson who was given the charge to make sure President Monson got back in the temple to finish the ceremony on schedule suggested they move inside. President Monson shook his head, "No, I want to call up one more." He scanned the crowd, looked and looked and finally spotted a woman at the back and said, motioning to her as their eyes made contact, "Will you come up? I want you to put a little mud in the crack." It turns out she was the mother of the little boy who would soon die. Later, Elder Nelson asked him, "How did you know they were related?" He responded, "I didn't know, but The Lord knew. I've learned how to respond to His promptings."  

President Uchtdorf described how we too can learn to recognize the voice of the Lord and respond as the prophet when he taught, "We improve our relationship with our Heavenly Father by learning of Him, by communing with Him, by repenting of our sins, and by actively following Jesus Christ, for “no man cometh unto the Father, but by [Christ].” To strengthen our relationship with God, we need some meaningful time alone with Him. Quietly focusing on daily personal prayer and scripture study, always aiming to be worthy of a current temple recommend--these will be some wise investments of our time and efforts to draw closer to our Heavenly Father. Let us heed the invitation in Psalms: “Be still, and know that I am God” ("Of Things That Matter Most" GC Oct 2010).

Refining my ability to recognize and know the voice of the Lord has been a lifelong process.  It began as a small boy on my knees. My experience as a teenager, outlined in the previous chapter helped me discern feelings of peace spoken to my mind.  At times I have indeed felt the “burning in the bosom” described in the scriptures but more often than not it comes as thoughts and feelings come into my mind and in my heart (see Doctrine & Covenants 8:2-3).  I used to worry about trying to determine if these thoughts came from my own mind or were from the Spirit of the Lord. A passage from the Book of Mormon helped me understand this process better. The prophet Moroni included words of his father, Mormon, in his account which reads, “For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God” (Moroni 7:16).

Even if the thought is my own, if it inviteth me to do good and to persuade to believe in Christ, that thought came from God.  Indeed, as our righteousness improves, our thoughts will indeed be His thoughts and our ways His ways (see Isaiah 55:8-9). The origin of the thought becomes less important, rather the outcome is critical.  If it leads me to Christ than I can have a “perfect knowledge” that it is of God.

More than the ability to recognize the face of Jesus, it will be his voice that rings true to my heart when we meet again someday.  Nothing has brought me greater joy than being able to respond to that voice in being an instrument in his hands to carry out his work. It lets me know that not only does He know who I am but that he also trusts me to bless his children.