“I wait for the Lord; my soul waits for His word.”
-Psalm 130:5
One of the main objectives of much of my work is helping young people to hear the voice of God. In order to hear God’s voice, we must first unlearn many of the assumptions we bring to faith and to prayer. Like the prophet Elijah in this weekend’s first reading, we might expect God to speak in a big, booming voice like a strong wind, or for the room we’re praying in to shake like an earthquake. Sometimes, God moves in big, unmistakable ways. More often though, the Lord’s voice sounds like a “tiny whispering sound” (1 Kings 19). God speaks to us in prayer through His words in Scripture, or through a gentle tug on our hearts, or through our own thoughts.
Another obstacle many people have to hearing God’s voice is that we don’t actually expect to hear Him! We think that the creator of the universe must have more important things to do, that somehow we’re not on His mind or we’re not worth His time. We may even believe that hearing God’s voice was a special gift only for the holy heroes of the Bible and that no one experiences that in our day. In order to hear the voice of God, we need to suspend our disbelief, even if just for a moment.
I like to help teens to suspend their disbelief by inviting them to journal their answers to the question “If God were to speak to me, what would I most want to hear Him say?”. Then, I encourage them that if what they’ve written is true (consistent with Scripture and Church teaching) and kind, that’s probably something God indeed wants to speak to them!
We’re each waiting to hear the voice of God, longing for his word to us in particular. We watch the priest on Sunday at Mass and listen to his homily, wondering, “Is the God who loves this priest, whom he communes with intimately, also for me? Does the God of the Bible have anything to say to my current situation, my current aches and hopes?”
If any of this resonates for you today, I invite you to allow Jesus to speak to you the words of this weekend’s gospel: “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid” (Matthew 14). Spend a few minutes with this passage and put yourself in Peter’s shoes, bringing all of your doubts to Jesus.
Jocelyn Johnson
Director of Youth Ministry
