Knowing the Voice of God: The Still Small Voice of God

God doesn’t always speak with thunder and lightning. More often, He speaks with a still, small voice. But what does that mean? What does this voice of God sound like?

If you’ve read my testimony, you know I’ve heard this voice myself — and I’ve never been the same since. I describe it as a power that I could understand in the form of words. It wasn’t audible, yet I still heard the words clearly:

“Do you really want to chance it?”

If you’ve never experienced this, it may be difficult to grasp. But if you have, then you know exactly what I’m talking about — the still, small voice of God is unmistakable.

Still, I don’t ask you to take my word for it. I want you to see it for yourself in the scriptures. If what I experienced was real, it will line up with what God’s Word says.

What Is a Voice

When we think about words, we usually think of sound — vibrations moving through the air, carrying meaning. But a voice is more than sound.

Every voice is unique. When you speak, you aren’t just communicating words; you’re communicating yourself. Pitch, tone, rhythm, and resonance make your voice like a fingerprint. Hearing a voice reveals not only words, but also the person behind them.

This shows us something profound. God didn’t just create by speaking — He is the Word. His voice is not just information; it is His very presence. That’s why when He thundered at Sinai (Exodus 20:18-19), the people trembled. They weren’t just hearing sounds — they were encountering the living God.

God communicates at a deeper level than sound. I won’t go too deep here, because this subject reaches far beyond a basic course. But the point is this: you can know the word God speaks even without hearing them audibly.

The Holy Spirit Speaks to Our Spirit

His Spirit communicates directly to our hearts. Just being in His presence can “speak” His Word into your very being, in a way you can understand, even without sound.

This is not the same as emotions, imagination, or self-talk. Let’s look at the differences:

• Self-talk sounds like your own inner voice, in your own style of speaking.
• Feelings are emotions — they can guide choices, but they aren’t words.
• Imagination forms thoughts and pictures we create ourselves.
• Intuition draws from past experience.

But notice what all these things have in common: they all involve you. That means it is your voice — not God.

The simplest way to tell the difference between the still small voice of God and your own mind is by knowing where it came from. For example, after you finish reading this sentence, ask yourself: Did you write the words you just read?

When you think God said something, ask yourself: Were you interpreting a feeling? Were you sensing something and taking it to mean God was speaking? Were you just thinking, and suddenly an idea popped into your mind?

In each of these cases, you were involved in producing the message you “received.” In scripture, no prophet ever received God’s Word by “figuring it out” or by interpreting a feeling. In every case, the message came directly from Him.

Adam and Eve heard the voice of the Lord walking in the garden.

God called to Moses out of the burning bush.

Israel heard God speak out of the fire.

None of these people had anything to do with figuring out what was said, and none of them heard a voice that came from their own mind.

The story of Paul is another clear example of the way God speaks. Notice that the others with him saw the light but did not hear the voice. Yet Paul did — he heard Jesus speak directly to him. This shows us that God speaks to our spirit in a way we can understand as words.

Also notice that Paul didn’t have to sense or feel anything to gather this message. The voice of God comes from Him alone and is not the product of our own minds.

Our only role is to listen when God opens our ears. Remember, it is He who opens them, not us.

The Still, Small Voice

The Lord was not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire. Instead, the Lord Himself was the still small voice. Scripture says the voice came to Elijah. Notice, it doesn’t say he heard it audibly — it says it came to him.

This voice moved. From everything we see here, the voice itself was the very presence of God. He was heard without thunder, wind, or fire. He was heard without sound. He was heard in the very soul of Elijah as God moved within him.

And what Elijah received were words he could understand: “What doest thou here, Elijah?”

This is the still small voice of God. It is not a sound. It is something far stronger — yet peaceful and gentle.

Look closely at what is said here: “There was silence, and I heard a voice, saying.”

Without a single sound, in complete silence, a voice was still heard — a voice that did not come from the one hearing it. How can a person hear a voice when there is only silence? Unless, of course, the voice itself is something other than sound.

God is a Spirit. The voice of God is a spiritual voice. It is not just sound. It is the very Spirit of God speaking—not to our mind, but to our spirit.

We hear Him without sound, without thought, without an audible voice. We hear Him with our very spirit, which understands Him as the words He speaks. It is God Himself who speaks simply by being present.

This is what Elijah called the still, small voice. This is the voice calling out in the silence in the book of Job.

We must be careful. It is a voice that comes from outside of us, yet speaks within us. If we had any part in generating the thought — if it came from feelings, imagination, or reasoning — then it wasn’t God’s still small voice.

But when the Spirit of God overshadows us, when His presence itself forms words without sound within us — then we can truly say: “Thus saith the Lord.”

Continue To Unit 4:8 – The Work of the Holy Spirit OR

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