How Do I Know It’s God?

As a spiritual director I often hear, “How do I know it’s God?” Like amateur sleuths, we search for clues, and soon it’s clear that God communicates to people in myriad ways.

Tears are a clear sign for one directee that God is behind a certain awareness. Another person notices a deep desire to be like that holy friend who is kindness personified. In a split-second some people get detailed pictures in their heads. It’s marvelous to watch people discover amazing gems from God.

“I cannot visualize God,” another directee says as if that’s a personal failure, “but I sense a hand on my shoulder.” I ask if this hand could be God communicating peace. Yes, we discern, this seeker could feel God.

It takes courage and a trusted listener to discuss messages from God. People discount or dismiss clues such as bodily perceptions. “Could God really be reaching me using my body?”

I listened to another person describe life so overwhelming that she felt helpless:

When I finally surrendered and prayed, “OK, God, here it is. Everything. That’s all I’ve got,” something physical happened. A pressure lifted off my body. It was the same feeling I had decades earlier when I prayed, admitting my powerlessness, and I felt a weight lift from my chest. I was able to forgive a deep, long-held hurt.

This retreatant had “heard” from God via physical sensation.

God also uses disturbing awarenesses that feel like a fire alarm going off in my stomach. I’ve had a nauseous feeling when considering a choice that isn’t wise. I remember taking a job despite that warning. It ended poorly. But how could I know the warning was from God?

One helpful tool when I’m unsure is Scripture. For example, I measure emotions against my recollection of Jeremiah 29:11, which teaches me that God has great plans for me. God wants to give me (and all of us) a hope-filled future. That’s God’s will for us. An icky feeling could be a clue to spend more time in prayer to discern whether something is from God or elsewhere. What other emotions are surfacing? Has some image or idea surprisingly surfaced?

Increases in hope, faith, or peace—despite adversity—indicate a right path. Just because God is leading doesn’t mean the road will be trouble-free.

Habakkuk 2:2–3 also gives me direction while bolstering my faith. It talks about a vision God is giving me for a future time, a vision that I should write down to help me remember it. This journaling helps me focus my antenna for hearing God. Although God’s vision may seem slow in coming, God urges me to wait, because the vision will surely will come to pass.

Habakkuk writes as if God is speaking: “Trust me, even if this vision delays. Keep waiting; it will happen!” I experience God working in small increments, lifting the fog a few steps at a time. And God is unpredictable.

How do I know something is from God? It may take time to figure it out. Retrospection may be the only way to be sure.

If I hear nothing from God, I must rely on my God-given powers of reason to choose. God can surely intervene if necessary. Once when I chose poorly, a person interrupted my actions. In retrospect, I realized that God used that person.

The best way I know to determine if something is from God involves two things: a consistent foundation of daily prayer and an honest discussion with my spiritual director, who prays with me every month. We expect God to communicate, and God always does, in one way or another.

Photo by Tara Winstead on Pexels.