Hearing and Understanding God's Voice

My two-year-old currently has a very raspy voice because of nodules on his vocal chords that make him a little difficult to understand sometimes. He is also still developing his vocabulary and learning to talk and so his words do not always make sense right away. On top of that, sometimes he will just whisper to us, saying something very quietly like “butter jelly”—meaning he wants a peanut butter and jelly sandwich—or “bubble game”—meaning he wants to play a certain game on the iPad. Usually it will take me two or three times listening to him intently right up in my face to fully understand what he is trying to tell me. It takes focus and patience, and this experience with him is perhaps similar to seeking to heed the voice of the Spirit in our lives. In this week’s Come Follow Me lesson, it discusses this subject, saying, “Have you ever felt that you were struggling to understand a message that God was communicating to you? Perhaps the experience of the people in 3 Nephi 11:1–8 can help you understand some principles of hearing and understanding God’s voice.” These principles we see at the start of this chapter certainly highlight the fact that it takes effort and concentration to hear the voice of the Lord speaking to us.

               Here are some of the principles I see from these chapters about how we can hear the voice of God in our lives. First, we need to stand in holy places. For these Nephites, this was at the temple: “There were a great multitude gathered together, of the people of Nephi, round about the temple which was in the land Bountiful” (v1). We need to similarly gather in holy places where we can focus on understanding the voice of the Spirit, such as the temple, at Church, or in a quiet place in our home. As the scripture states, “stand ye in holy places, and be not moved” (Doctrine and Covenants 87:8). Second, we need to focus our attention on the Savior. We read that this people was “conversing about this Jesus Christ, of whom the sign had been given concerning his death” (v2). Each week as we partake of the Sacrament we are promised that we will “always remember Him” and as we do we are promised to “always have His Spirit” to be with us (Doctrine and Covenants 20:77). The Savior summarized the promise this way, “if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you” (3 Nephi 18:7). As we focus on remembering the Savior and speaking of Him with others, surely that helps us to hear the Spirit He has promised us. Third, it takes patience and focus to hear His voice. For this people, the voice spoke three times before they could understand it. They had to give their full attention to the voice in order to finally get the message. Once they did “open their ears to hear from whence the sound came,” they finally understood what the voice was saying. Surely it takes a similar kind of spiritual focus and turning our ears and eyes away from the world and to the Lord to hear Him. Lastly, perhaps a key to hearing the voice of the Lord is to turn off our own voice. The account states, “The whole multitude were turned upon him, and they durst not open their mouths, even one to another” (v8). As they turned to the Savior to listen to Him, they stopped speaking. We too sometimes need to stop speaking, whether that is in our minds or out loud. If we are talking and focusing on our own thoughts and words, we may miss what He is trying to say.

               Surely it takes practice and focus to hear the voice of the Spirit like it does for me to understand my little guy when he speaks. We need to be in the right place, in the right mindset, focus on the Savior, and then be mentally and physical silent so we can hear Him.