Hearing the Voice of the Lord (Gerald N. Lund)

 

Our ward RS started a library and this was the first book I borrowed. I think this would make a great book to study as a group. It could lead to some great discussions. I think it's a good book to have on your shelf and go back to again and again when questions about hearing God come up. Luckily, as I was reading it, my husband reminded me that we do own a copy. LOL  There are a lot of great stories to help cement his points. I really liked that he takes a lot of time to address false revelations. We don't always hear a lot about that.

I'm not sure I have a resolution to why God seems to answers people's seemingly unimportant prayers (finding keys, remembering an important ingredient before you put something in the oven) versus the big ones like being prompted to check on your baby before they drown or choke or are lost to crib death or die in utero. The best answer I seemed to find is that sometimes people just aren't listening...which doesn't help with the guilt when bad things happen.

I didn't like the formatting of quotes scattered here and there through the text. It requires a break in following the thought to go to the side-bar and read a related quote. I would have preferred the quotes to be part of the text. They seemed quite random.

Quotes/sections I marked:

He has a little story of eaves dropping on his daughter playing with a group of friends. She had just finished kindergarten and was playing school. He says she said, "I'm going to teach you everything I know." and then starting teaching kids he letters of the alphabet to her rapt audience. He compares that to teaching religion classes. "As I stand before my religion classes and 'teach them everything I know' about the gospel, is that what Heavenly Father Does? Does He stand back and watch, smiling gently at my naive innocence" He said a few days later, he wrote this poem in his journal:

I know that next to God and His great wisdom,
My mind is "child", and there's much more to get.
Like children playing school in summer sunshine,
I barely know the basic alphabet.

I also loved his bit in chapter 28 about reducing the noise in our life. He ways when we can't hear someone we're speaking to we have four possibilities, and these are things we can consider with person revelation:

• I could have asked her to speak more loudly. obviously that option wouldn't apply if we were talking about revelation. It isn't our privilege to request louder - most distinct and more recognizable - forms of revelation from the Lord.
• I could have turned down or eliminated some of the other noise by turning off the movie, sending the kids outside, and so forth.
• I could have moved closer to her.
• I could have concentrated and focused on her and what she was saying, trying to  screen out some of the other noice.

Later in the book, he also talks about how important it is to filter out what is unnecessary - even in our church callings.

Occasionally, we fine some who become so energetic in their Church service that their lives become unbalanced. They start believing that the programs they administer are more important than the people they serve. They complicate their service with needless frills and embellishments that occupy too much time, cost too much money, and sap too much energy. They refuse to delegate or allow others to grow in their respective responsibilities. (From O Be Wise by M. Russell Ballard, p. 18)

Learning to hear:

He tells a story of playing some music for a group of people and then asks them to tell him everything they could about it. Some of the comments were:

• It's got some scratches in the record.
• It's classical music.
• I think it's a piece by Beethoven.
• Yes, it's the second movement from the Eroica Symphony (from a music major)

The principal is that the more we know and understand about revelation, the more we will be able to recognize it when it comes.

Goodreads says:

How can we navigate safely through our turbulent times? Personal revelation is one key! Elder Gerald N. Lund, million-selling author of The Work and the Glory, offers profound insights about how personal revelation 'works.' Learn how we can increase our ability to receive and recognize personal revelation, what we can do to avoid being misled, and many other ideas relevant to this tremendously important spiritual gift.