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Faces on Faith: You can hear God’s voice

By Staff | Sep 3, 2019

June Sieber

Any of us familiar with the Bible can recall the story of Samuel and Eli. What you may have forgotten, is that Hannah had no children. When she prayed earnestly to God to give her a child, she also promised, if her prayer was answered, that she would give the child to the Lord. When Samuel was weaned, Hannah took him to the prophet Eli to serve in the temple. One night God calls Samuel three times. Each time Samuel thinks it is Eli calling. Finally Eli tells Samuel that God is calling him and he should answer: “Speak for they servant heareth.”

In today’s mental noise and sensory overload, we may long for a voice of assurance and safety. But can we really hear God speaking to us? Does God talk to us in actual words?

A recent lesson on Truth in the Christian Science Quarterly, addresses this subject. Quoting first from Pslams 85:8: “I will hear what God the lord will speak.” And from Isaiah 30:21 “thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying, this is the way; walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” From Deuteronomy 4:36 “Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee.”

The lesson made clear that it is God’s nature to reveal things to us; to make it clear and understandable, and it is our divine nature to be receptive to God’s direction. Mary Baker Eddy writes in the Christian Science Textbook, Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures: “Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men, speaking to the human consciousness. The effects of Christian Science are not so much seen, as felt. It is the ‘still small voice’ of Truth uttering itself. We are either turning away from this utterance, or we are listening to it and going up higher.”

In times of fear, loneliness, or desperation, God’s voice is very near. What He wants to tell us, is already within our capacity to feel and understand. Like Samuel, our child-like qualities of humility, honesty, and heartfelt yearning, enable us to hear, exactly what we need, in words that are clear, and comforting.

June Sieber is affiliated with the Sanibel Christian Science Church.