Do you have difficulty hearing God’s voice? — Our Conscience

 

Can you hear the voice of God, and if you can are you sure it is really His voice? If you have this difficulty you are not alone. Most Christians have difficulty  distinguishing between soul and Spirit. This makes it easy to confuse the voice of God with your imagination, feelings and emotions and become easily deluded, falsely thinking you hear His voice. When His voice is not clear you are acting only out of your pride filled will. Because your aim is to be united with God and do His will, you need to hear His voice and be sure it is the authentic voice of God guiding you. You cannot allow your will to be misdirected. It is easy to become accustomed to relying on your emotions, feelings or thoughts from your imagination instead of God’s authentic voice. 

God speaks to us through our conscience. This is the key to hearing God’s true voice,

Saint Dorotheus of Gaza tells us:

When God created man, He breathed into him something divine…which showed him the difference between right and wrong. This is called the conscience which is the law of nature.

Saint Theophan the Recluse tells us, 

The conscience has a voice of God that tells us what is right and wrong, what pleases or displeases God, what we should or should not do. It’s the legislator, judge and executor, the voice of God. Conscience is how God attempts to rule the soul through the Holy Spirit.…Conscience is a great thing. It is the voice of an omnipresent God in the soul. He who is in the world with conscience is also in the world with God.

Hearing the voice of God speaking in our conscience is a high virtue. His voice is always there, but we don’t always hear it. When we ignore conscience for a period of time it becomes silent. This discernment is difficult due to our fallen nature where our soul is consumed with worldly worries and duties. We are not aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit. We live immersed is a society lacking reference to Spirit. We are oriented toward worldly things, not spiritual ones. Our soul is working on its own, self-directing the actions of our body.

Saint Theophan the Recluse describes the soul like this:

The soul is

entirely directed towards the ordering of our worldly existence, our earthly one…the soul’s knowledge is built only on the basis of that which is gained through experience from life around us. The activity of the soul is directed towards the fulfillment of the demands of temporal life.

Since the soul’s work is ordering our worldly existence, when it acts separated from God this is serious. Without higher spiritual direction we are not capable of following what God intends for us. It”s important that we hear His voice clearly and accurately. God created the soul so He could work through us to do His will. It needs direction from above, from God, so we will to do His will. Without recognizing God’s voice we are only fulfilling our own desires.

 

Since our aim is to become united with God, we must listen to His voice. We also need a pure will to follow what we hear. We cannot be confused by our feelings and emotions or thoughts from our imagination. This is a struggle all Christians face.

We need to engage in spiritual exercises like Saint Paul so our conscience is clear: 

“And in this do I always exercise myself, to have a conscience clear of offense towards God and toward men.” (Acts 24:16)

These exercises are all part of what we call an Orthodox way of life. This involves daily prayer, fasting, regular participation in worship services and sacraments, reading Scripture and the lives of saints daily. As you engage in these practices as recommended by the Church, you will naturally find the voice of your conscience getting louder and louder. You will will also become stronger.

In one way it’s simple. For example, when we feel God calling us to confession, don’t procrastinate. Just do it! Exercise your will congruent with that inner voice. When you follow the voice of God you will only discover joy and true freedom.

Note of caution: If you ever think God is telling you to do something that is not consistent with what you have learned through the Scriptures, be sure to first discuss this with your spiritual father. Do the same if it will involve a major change in your life. He can help you discern if what you experience is the authentic voice of God.

References: 

The Spiritual Life, p 277 St Theophan the Recluse

Homily on the Conscience by St Dorotheus of Gaza

Booklet: Ten Points for an Orthodox Way of Life

Do We Follow Our Conscience?"

During Lent we are asked to examine ourselves and to seek forgiveness and repent. One of the central aspects of the soul is conscience. We are naturally given by God the ability to distinguish between good and bad.  This is also called the "natural law." In ancient times men like Abraham followed this law and it was latter written down by Moses when it had been dimmed by sin. Finally, Christ came to renew man from our inherited tendency to sin showing us the way to be reunited with God.

We have this capability within our soul, but we cannot bury it like in ages gone past. Unfortunately, for most of us it has become weak due to the habits of our society and our own choices to ignore it.  Our conscience becomes dim and its voice unnoticeable.  

Saint Dorotheos of Gaza writes:

It is up to us now either to bury our conscience under the ground, or to have it shine forth and illuminate us if we obey it. When our conscience says to us, "Do this" and we treat it in contempt, or it says it again and we refuse, then we are burying it underground. Thus, it can not speak to us clearly because of the weight upon it.  But like a lamp that only sheds a dim light, so the conscience gradually starts to show things more darkly and more obscurely."

Throughout our life when we have ignored our conscience we have progressively made it less of a factor in our decision making.  We unknowingly build into our normal way of living sinful habits and think nothing about them.  They become hidden from us. They lead us into to thinking when we are asked to confess our sins to think, "I am not a sinful person, I have not killed any one, I have not stolen from anyone," and so forth. Any effort we make to justify that we are not a sinner only indicates that our conscience is very clouded. 

To develop in our prayer and spiritual life, we need to awaken our conscience so it can become a more powerful guide for us.  It is always opposed to evil and will reprimand us for doing what we should not do and for not doing what we should. Saint Dorotheos says this is why its called "adversary." To reawaken our conscience we must pay attention to the little things. It is through our ignoring our small transgression that we are led to greater and greater ones.  Each small denial of conscience throws another shovel full of dirt on top of it and it does not take long before it is buried by our bad habits.

Saint Dorotheos writes,

When somebody begins to say, "What does it matter if I say that word? What does it matter if I eat that little thing? What does it matter if I pay attention to that?" From the "What does it matter?" of this and "What does it matter?" for that, one obtains the bad and malignant sore and starts to despise and trample upon one's own conscience in great and important matters. Thus, progressively one is in danger of falling into total insensibility.

Therefore we must be careful not to neglect the small things in our lives.  Each little transgression is important. If we do not pay attention to them, they become what Saint Dorotheos says "are cancer for the soul." He says, "Both the life of holiness and the sinful life start from little things and lead to greater ones, either good or bad."

Our conscience  is something we need to realize needs our protection.  We need to guard it from being trampled on. This is so in relations with others as well as material things. All God's commandments must be followed even when no one is watching us. Saint Dorotheos tells us that to guard our conscience with regard to one's neighbor "Is doing absolutely nothing  at all that will upset or wound him, either by deed, word, gesture or even with a glance." The same is true for our use of material things. Nothing should be misused or wasted.

We should never feel remorse over the direction of our conscience.  It is essential to be extra vigilant to make sure we follow its guidance no matter how weak it may be.  As we listen and follow its voice we will become stronger and the Holy Spirit will aid us in carrying out its direction.

When you cannot muster the discipline to act on this inner voice, do as Saint Theophan says,"compensate the conscience at once through your own inner repentance at home.  Confess it to the priest later." Shortly you will find your ability to abide by your conscience increases dramatically.

Saint Paul says,

"And in this do I always exercise myself, to have a conscience clear of offense towards God and towards men."

See other posts on Conscience

Reference: Abba Dorotheos: Practical Teachings on the Christian Life, pp 101-105

Developing a Child's Conscience

Key to the Orthodox way of Life is an active conscience.  But for many, this sense we are given in our Baptism is lost or dulled by our separation from God.  At a young age it is important to nurture a child's use of their conscience.  How do you do this?


I knew a school principle who was very effective in maintaining discipline in an inner city school.  There was an incident where boys were cutting up on the bus  and in their zeal to be "smart" they mutilated one of the bus seats. The boys were identified by the supervising teacher, but she did not see them actually mutilate the seat.  She sent them to the principal. Faced by the principal, the boys of course denied doing anything.  What did the principal do? He began by explaining to them that they have a conscience.  He told them that this is a quiet voice inside their heart that tells them right from wrong.  And, if they had done anything wrong, later in the day or that night they would have a feeling coming from inside that they had done something wrong.  He explained to them that once you get this feeling you want to get rid of it.  He did not accuse, threaten or punish them, but told them to go home and that he would be there in the morning before the school bell rang to talk with them if they wanted to meet with him.  That next morning the boys showed up in his office early and explained to him that their conscience was bothering them and that they could not even sleep very well that night. They then told him what they had done and asked for his to help to get rid of this bad feeling they had. He then led them in a discussion about how they could make up for the bad deed that had done.


He was teaching them about conscience and how to use it.  This is the same task we all face with our children to help them develop a good Christian moral sense.
The biggest task for parents is to instruct their children in such a way that they do not force them to go against what they know is best for them out of rebellion.  Like the principal, parents need to guide children in using their conscience so they develop a God oriented will and learn to recognize the work of God within themselves. When they learn to recognize their own sinfulness, then they can be introduced to the concept of repentance and eventually the sacrament of confession.  A parent who is successful in this regard while become an open conduit for their repentance.  A child will see their parents as the loving father of the story of the Prodigal son.  Children will know that when they are honest with their conscience, their parents will always welcome them with gladness.


Paul points out that Christians have more than the law of the Jews. They have a law in the heart. He tells us that those "who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them" will be justified when that final judgment come. (Romans 2:12-16)

Saint Greogry of Nyssa tells us the following; What then must we do, we who have been found worthy of the name of Christ? Each of us must examine his thoughts, words and deeds, to see whether they are directed toward Christ or are turned away from him. This examination is carried out in various ways. Our deeds or our thoughts or our words are not in harmony with Christ if they issue from passion. They then bear the mark of the enemy who smears the pearl of the heart with the slime of passion, dimming and even destroying the lustre of the precious stone. On the other hand, if they are free from and untainted by every passionate inclination, they are directed toward Christ, the author and source of peace. He is like a pure, untainted stream. If you draw from him the thoughts in your mind and the inclinations of your heart, you will show a likeness to Christ, your source and origin, as the gleaming water in a jar resembles the flowing water from which it was obtained. For the purity of Christ and the purity that is manifest in our hearts are identical. Christ’s purity, however, is the fountainhead; ours has its source in him and flows out of him. Our life is stamped with the beauty of his thought. The inner and the outer man are harmonized in a kind of music. The mind of Christ is the controlling influence that inspires us to moderation and goodness in our behavior. As I see it, Christian perfection consists in this: sharing the titles which express the meaning of Christ’s name, we bring out this meaning in our minds, our prayers and our way of life.  Its essential to lay a sound foundation in our children so they learn to trust in their conscience knowing that i's impulses come from God.

Law of the Conscience - Saint Theophan

Saint Theophan gives us clear advice about how to make proper use of our conscience.

"Just keep this law: Never do anything, whether great or small, that goes against the conscience.  If you do violate this, compensate the conscience at once through your own inner repentance at home.  Confess it to the priest later.  The conscience is a great thing.  It is the voice of the Omnipresent God in the soul.  He who is in the world with the conscience is also in the world with God."

This seems so logical and seems like it should be easy.  But, first, we must become continually in tune with our conscience and be able to recognize when we are going against it. This requires some degree of spiritual maturity.  Most of us have lived lives where we have habitually ignored our conscience for one reason or another. We have become insensitive to its call and no longer hear it very clearly.  Even when we do, it has become an easy thing to ignore it.


Saint Paul tells us, those who are justified are those "who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them." (Rom 2:15)


As you adopt an Orthodox way of life, with daily prayer, fasting, regular participation in worship services and sacraments, reading Scripture and the lives of the saints daily, you will quite naturally find the voice of your conscience getting louder and louder.  Then, you can take the next step and make a commitment to follow it no matter what. When unsure of action talk with your spiritual father as we can be misled when our faith is immature.  


When you cannot muster the discipline to act on this inner voice, do as Saint Theophan says, "compensate the conscience at once through your own inner repentance at home.  Confess it to the priest later."  Shortly you will find your ability to abide by your conscience increases dramatically.


Saint Paul says,

"And in this do I always exercise myself, to have a conscience clear of offense towards God andtowards men."

Reference: The Spiritual Life, p 277