The Voice of God

What is the voice of God? Today I read “Tradition Two” in the Alcoholics Anonymous Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. The 2nd tradition is about how AA should be run and is stated as follows: “For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority–a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.” (Page 132 of the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions)

In their explanation they tell a story about one of the founders, Bill, who was offered a paid position using the AA model and how, what he initially thought was the voice of God, came to him. Bill was offered a position at a hospital as a therapist using the AA model with excellent financial compensation. He and his wife had been ministering to alcoholics at great cost to themselves and were struggling financially. On the subway home, filled with excitement, Bill received what he believed was the voice of God. Luke 10:7 says, “for the laborer is worthy of his hire.” Again, in 1 Timothy 5:18, “the workman is worthy of his wages.”

When Bill arrived home he was disappointed in the somewhat lukewarm response from his wife Lois. When he shared the offer with his group later that night, again there was a lukewarm response and then one of the members spoke up. He told Bill, and everyone agreed, that AA must never be tied to a hospital (business) in order to be the best. Alcoholism was life and death and the alcoholic needed the absolute best to survive. Bill realized that the voice of God was not speaking to him through the scripture on his way home, though the scripture is in fact the word and voice of God, this time God was using the voice of his fellow AA members to speak to Bill.

I began to think about the voice of God and how it speaks to me. How do I know I am hearing the voice of God and not my own inner voice? How do I know the scripture that is brought to my thoughts is brought there by God and not myself or twisted and used as temptation?

Here are a few of the things I found:

The Bible. God’s voice will never contradict His written word.
His Character. God’s voice will never contradict His Character.
Action. God’s voice will encourage me to take action and never be stagnant. God’s voice will never tell me to sit on my hands and do nothing. Even when told to be patient, I am to pray, fast, study, learn, grow, and serve.
Others. God will use the people in my life to support what I believe is the voice of God.

Bill had 3 of the 4 things there. He had the written word of God. Expanding Bill’s reach to a larger format would have helped more people and followed the character of God to help everyone he could. It was most definitely a call to action. But he only had 3 of the 4. God used the 4th one, others, to speak to Bill. AA had to be a separate thing. It could not be part of a business, run by business people, if it was going to be the best and alcoholics needed the best.

I believe this is a good template to follow. Does the voice that I hear inside me follow God’s word? Does it align with His character? Does it call me to action? Do the wise and trusted people in my life support what I am hearing? If I have all 4 I believe I can confidently say that I am hearing the voice of God. I believe you also can be confident in hearing his voice as well.

And with that, I’ll take another 24.