What Is God Saying to Us?

One of the questions I hear most often is, “How do you know what God is saying?”

Followers of Jesus have wrestled with that question for two thousand years. In the Wesleyan tradition, and now as an Episcopalian, I have come to appreciate four sources that help us discern God’s voice: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience. None stands completely alone. Together they help us seek the wisdom of God.

For Christians, the Bible is our sacred writing. It is not a single book but a library of books written by many authors over hundreds of years in different cultures and historical settings. Because of that, faithful Christians have sometimes interpreted Scripture differently. Some read it primarily as a literal record of God’s words. Others see it as revealing timeless principles that guide us in loving God, loving our neighbors, loving ourselves, and caring for all creation.

One of the greatest gifts I have discovered in the Episcopal Church is the Daily Office, found in the Book of Common Prayer. It provides a rhythm of prayer for morning, noon, evening, and bedtime. Morning Prayer typically includes readings from the Psalms, the Old Testament, the New Testament, and one of the Gospels, all woven together with prayers, silence, and praise.

For more than a year, this has become my daily practice.

What continues to amaze me is how passages written centuries apart seem to speak to one another—and then somehow speak directly into my own life and into the world around me. Again and again I find a common thread running through the day’s readings. It is as though the Holy Spirit gathers these voices from across the centuries into one conversation.

The Daily Office has taught me that Scripture is more than something to read. It is something to pray, to ponder, and to live.

One verse that has stayed with me this week comes from Romans 13:8:

“Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”

That is practical wisdom. Certainly it reminds us to live responsibly, but it also reminds us that the one debt we never finish paying is the debt of love. Every day gives us another opportunity to forgive, to encourage, to show kindness, and to extend grace.

The Daily Office also creates space for silence. After the readings are finished, I often sit quietly, allowing the words to settle into my heart. Sometimes no great revelation comes. Sometimes a single phrase refuses to leave my mind. Sometimes I begin to see my own circumstances differently. In those quiet moments, God’s Spirit often whispers what I most need to hear.

Each week I hope to share what I believe God is saying through these Daily Office readings—not as someone who has all the answers, but as a fellow traveler on the journey of faith.

I invite you to walk with me.

Perhaps, together, we will discover that God is still speaking.