Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.
2 Peter 2:15-16
Have you ever talked yourself into something you knew you shouldn’t have? Balaam was an important prophet and a mouthpiece for God to the nation of Israel… until he wasn’t. Balaam started off well, but things went south when he allowed his greed to override his good judgment. He fell prey to listening to the wrong voice when he put his desire above God’s command. He was offered a bribe, but he knew better. Wanting to justify himself, he asked God, and God answered. Not liking God’s answer, he allowed himself to be talked into asking God again.
Have you ever not liked an answer to prayer but kept asking? God steered Balaam away from making a bad decision, but Balaam persisted. The Apostle Paul describes our mechanism of right and wrong in Romans 2:15: Our conscience excuses or accuses us. Conscience can be bent and even broken if one is not careful. For example, if after knowing the “right” in a situation, one persists in doing wrong, the sensitivity which first made the conscience cry out will be quieted or silenced entirely, making it easier to ignore the conscience again in the future. If you ask God for guidance but ignore His answer, often another voice will emerge, wanting to substitute itself for the voice of God. That is what happened to Eve when she put her desire above God’s command. Failing to follow what you know is right opens the door to becoming self-deceived.
There are four voices you must learn to distinguish clearly:
YOUR VOICE: Your mind automatically and habitually feeds thoughts and impressions to you. It is important to distinguish between an “auto thought” or “auto suggestion,” which requires processing and thinking through vs. that of a “knowing thought,” which comes from God. Your brain was designed by God to be an internal supercomputer that serves you. You must direct your thoughts or become a slave to them.
GOD’S VOICE: God’s voice is intuitively discerned. You may feel yourself thinking or processing in self-talk, but a sudden certainty of “knowing in your knower” what to do is the defining factor of knowing vs. thinking. For example, the voice of conscience tells you instantly what is right or wrong; you can rationalize all you want, but you know better. What does God’s voice sound like? God’s voice sounds like the Bible, always pointing us toward the higher and more difficult road. Learning His voice will help you distinguish between the four voices.
OTHER PEOPLE’S VOICES: This includes daily conversations, the Internet and media, people of influence speaking into your life, and past conversations remembering what others have said. It is important to differentiate outside influences from your inside thought life. How do you know if God is speaking through another to get a message to you? God asks us to “test the spirits” to make sure they are from Him. Specifically, testing any message from God will require that it line up with and not be in contradiction to Scripture. It points to those things that are God-honoring and edifying for others, not those things that are selfish and bring others down.
THE ENEMY: A demonic voice finds its entry into a person’s subconscious as a suggestive thought that masquerades as one’s own. How can you distinguish the enemy’s voice from others? The suggestions or impressions you receive from the enemy will contradict the Bible and go against your conscience. The enemy’s trap is to entice one with a sense of self-satisfaction or payoff at the expense of another or acting contrary to one’s conscience. If you are ever feeling a certain way or attempting to change the subject of your own self-talk but feel resistance, be aware that this is one piece of evidence that the enemy is attempting to intrude and override your will.
REFLECT TO CONNECT
- Can you recall a time when your conscience steered you away from a decision or course of action you were contemplating?
- Which of the four voices within you is the loudest right now?
- Have you ever found yourself “talking yourself into something” like Balaam did?
If you ignore the voice of God in your life, another voice will step up to take its place.
