Safe But Not Tame: Discerning God's Voice from the Enemy's
"Is he quite safe?" Lucy asks about Aslan in C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. "I should rather feel nervous about meeting a lion."
Mr. Beaver's response is perfect: "Safe? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn't safe. But he is good. He's the King, I tell you."
This captures something crucial about discerning God's voice: our God is not a marshmallow deity who's soft and squishy all the time. He's good, He's kind, but He's also the God who drowned an Egyptian army. His strength and fierceness are FOR us, never for evil or selfish gain, because He is love.
Simple Theology for Discernment
When people ask how to know if what they're hearing is God's voice or the enemy's, I always start with simple theology: God's good, Satan's bad.
This isn't oversimplified—it's foundational. Jesus is perfect theology. If what you're hearing sounds more like Jesus, it's probably from God. If it sounds more like the accuser, it's probably not.
Testing the Content
God's voice is:
Encouraging and empowering
Creative and positive
Wholesome and pure
Corrective but uplifting
When God corrects you, it feels empowering. It's like, "You're better than that. We can help you through this. We can get you to the other side. That's not who you really are."
The enemy's voice is:
Critical and condemning
Negative and judgmental
Perverted or sinful
Designed to tear down
The enemy makes you feel horrible, worthless, like you're never going to be enough or get it right. God would never plant an idea in your head to have an affair, to lie, to harm someone. Those thoughts don't come from Him.
Testing the Fruit
Beyond the content, look at what the communication produces in your spirit:
Does it create:
Peace or anxiety?
Compassion or jealousy?
Hope or despair?
Unity or division?
Love or fear?
God is not a God of confusion, but the enemy loves confusion. If what you're hearing creates turmoil, pressure, or that frantic "you must act now" feeling, step back and test it further.
The "Shelf" Principle
If you're unsure whether something is from God, you can always put it "on the shelf" for later. God is patient—He doesn't create artificial urgency or pressure. The enemy, however, loves to make you feel rushed and hurried.
But here's where honesty with yourself becomes crucial: are you putting something on the shelf because you're genuinely wanting to honor God by making sure it's really Him? Or are you putting it there because you don't like what you heard?
God knows your heart. He knows every intent of your thoughts. If your motivation for waiting is to honor Him, He appreciates that caution. If you're avoiding something because it challenges you, that's different.
When God's Voice Challenges Us
Sometimes God's voice isn't comfortable. Sometimes He calls us to difficult conversations, sacrificial choices, or changes we'd rather avoid. The difference is that even when God's word is challenging, it doesn't come with condemnation.
His correction feels like a loving parent saying, "I know you can do better because I see who you really are." The enemy's voice feels like an abusive parent saying, "You're worthless and will never amount to anything."
The Danger of Playing God for a Fool
While God is full of grace and mercy, we need to respect who He is. He's the King of majesty, not someone we can manipulate or ignore when His voice becomes inconvenient.
When we listen to His voice, it's a serious matter that we honor Him and respect what He's saying. There's a difference between genuinely wanting to make sure we're hearing correctly and simply not wanting to obey what we know He's said.
The writer of Hebrews warns that if we continue to reject His voice after hearing it clearly, our hearts can become hardened. God's patience is real, but it's not infinite when it comes to willful rebellion.
Building Confidence in Hearing
The more you practice discerning God's voice, the more confident you become. It's like learning to recognize your spouse's voice on the phone—at first you might be uncertain, but over time it becomes unmistakable.
Start with simple things:
Ask "Is that You, Lord?" when spontaneous thoughts come
Test what you're hearing against Scripture
Look for the fruit it produces in your spirit
Share with trusted spiritual friends who can help you discern
Remember, God wants you to hear His voice even more than you want to hear it. He's not playing hide-and-seek with His guidance. He's a good Father who loves to communicate with His children.
The Heart Behind the Question
First Chronicles 28:9 says, "The Lord searches all hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him."
God knows whether your desire to discern His voice comes from a heart that wants to honor Him or from fear that keeps you paralyzed. He honors the sincere seeker who wants to get it right.
Trust that as you grow in relationship with Him, discernment becomes more natural. You'll develop an internal sense of what sounds like Him and what doesn't. Most importantly, you'll discover that His voice is the most beautiful sound you'll ever hear—worth every effort to recognize and follow.
If you'd like to develop greater confidence in recognizing and discerning God's voice, there are practical tools and training available to help you grow in this vital skill.
Blessings,
Susan Dewbrew