The Four Voices of Guidance

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. PSALM 32:8

Hannah Whitall Smith grew up among people who took divine guidance with absolute seriousness. In The Unselfishness of God she describes how, among the Friends, a child who said she felt a leading from God was treated with tender respect, and how an inward concern could silence every objection. She loved that inheritance. She also saw its dangers, and her chapter on guidance in The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life is one of the wisest things she wrote, precisely because it is written by someone who believed in guidance and had watched it go wrong.

Guidance is promised

She begins with confidence. God has promised to guide His people, and the soul that is wholly surrendered — she stresses wholly, since any secret resistance clouds the question — may expect Him to do it.

And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. JOHN 10:4

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. JAMES 1:5

She adds a warning that is easy to skip. A true leading may sometimes take us against the wishes of those we love, even of older and wiser Christians, because God sees further than they do. But when it does, she says, it will always be carried out in the Master’s spirit — with gentleness, patience and love toward those we are obliged to disappoint. A leading that makes us harsh is suspect from the start.

The four voices

Then comes the heart of her teaching. God speaks, she says, in four ways: through Scripture, through the inward impressions of the Holy Spirit, through our own enlightened judgement, and through providential circumstances. And because God cannot contradict Himself, His voice in any one of these will always agree with His voice in the others. If the voices conflict, the speaker is not the same.

So her rule was to test every impression. Does it agree with Scripture? Does my sanctified common sense approve it? And — as the Quakers say — does way open to carry it out? If any test fails, it is not safe to go forward. Wait quietly until the Lord brings the voices into harmony, as He will, if it was His voice at all.

To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. ISAIAH 8:20

Other voices

Why such caution? Because, she says, God is not the only one who speaks to the soul. There is the loud and clamouring voice of self. And there are evil spirits who communicate, as the Holy Spirit does, by inward impressions — and who do not sign their names. An impression, taken by itself, proves nothing about its source.

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 1 JOHN 4:1

She had seen what happens when this is forgotten. Earnest Christians, meaning to honour the Spirit, have disregarded the plain teaching of the Bible, ignored clear providences and outraged their own judgement, and though God forgives the sincere, the consequences in this life are often sad. “I have met Christians who overlooked it and became fanatical,” she wrote. She told of a woman at a meeting who took the text we walk by faith, not by sight as a literal command, blindfolded herself, walked up and down the aisle to illustrate it, stumbled against the stove and burned herself — and then wondered at the mysterious dispensation.

Scripture first, and common sense

Her first test is always Scripture. We need no special revelation to tell us not to steal; God has already spoken. And the Bible, she says, is fuller of practical direction than most people imagine — on speech, on forgiveness, on money, on anxiety, on dress. Many who seek a private leading have simply not read what is written.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. PSALM 119:105

But she adds that the Bible is a book of principles, not of isolated sayings, and a single text torn from its setting can be made to sanction almost anything. That is why her second test is common sense. She asked a clear-headed Christian woman how she told the Holy Spirit from false spirits, and received the reply: “I rap them over the head and see if they have any common sense.” God guides us through the faculties He gave us, not independently of them. We must use our eyes to walk, however great our faith.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 TIMOTHY 1:7

Her third test is providence. If the Lord goes before His sheep, He opens the way; the Christian who has to batter down every door to follow a leading should suspect it. Her fourth voice is the inward one, and she did not despise it. One Christian gave her a simple secret: “I always mind the checks.” A sense of hesitation, a stop in the mind, should make us wait.

The sense of oughtness

When all four voices agree, she says, there comes a quiet, settled sense of oughtness, and that is the only safe foundation for action. Where doubt remains, wait; whatsoever is not of faith is sin. And where the path is clear, go at once, before hesitation turns into reasoning and reasoning into disobedience.

For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. 1 CORINTHIANS 14:33

Hannah’s own movement was later troubled by exactly the dangers she describes here: impressions treated as oracles, experiences prized above Scripture, strong personalities claiming direct leadings. Her chapter was a warning written in advance, and it remains one of the best short guides to the subject. Guidance is a wonderful privilege, she says at the end: that God should care enough about the details of our lives to direct them is proof of His love. But love that guides is never frantic, never contrary to His Word, and never at war with a sound mind.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. PROVERBS 3:5–6

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Think of a decision in front of you. Test it by the four voices: Scripture, enlightened judgement, providence, and the inward witness.

2. Before seeking a special leading, ask whether the Bible has already spoken on the matter.

3. Recall a time you or someone you know acted on an impression that proved false. What test was skipped?

4. Mind the checks: if you feel a stop in your mind about something, wait rather than push through.

5. If a leading means disappointing someone you love, examine whether you are carrying it out in the Master’s spirit.

A PRAYER

Lord, You have promised to guide me, and You are not the author of confusion.

Keep me from mistaking the loud voice of my own wishes for Yours, and from every spirit that is not of You.

Speak to me through Your Word, through the mind You have given me, through the circumstances You arrange, and in the quiet of my heart.

Where the way is clear, make me quick to obey; where it is not, make me willing to wait. Amen.