The Voice of God is Not our Voice

“The voice of the Lord is a powerful voice; the voice of the Lord is a voice of splendor” (Psalm 29:4)

“Conscience is not the voice of God within sinful beings; instead it is precisely their defense against this voice.” (Creation and Fall, Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

Conscience is not something that God gives to us to enable and empower us to right ourselves in relationship with God. We always think we have the power to choose God. Get closer. Get tuned in. We do not.

Yes, we have the power to choose to do right and good things, and we do, well, most of us, most of the time. And conscience does help us weigh things out in terms of the actions we will take. But improve or denigrate our relationship with God? No.

The Book of Genesis speaks of being “like God” and of being “in the image of God.” They are not the same thing, but we often think they are. “Like God” is being God. “In the Image of God” is being human in and with God. We readily, normally, need I say sinfully, think of ourselves as “like God,” with the power therein, and not as “in the image of God,” created beings that are powerless on our own concerning destiny,  but living in the power of God.

Do you remember the story of Adam and Eve being called out by God after the apple incident? Adam and Eve would not then simply stand before God and let God do whatever God wills to do. They ran and hid. I call that holding on to their own power as long as possible and possibly even long enough to make better choices. They will decide, not God.

When we are “in the image of God” we can indeed have a second chance and make a better choice but we know at the same time that second chance and choice will not impact our relationship with God. That relationship has already been established by God on our behalf: we are not God, we are “in the image of God.”

Adam and Eve thought they had spoiled their relationship with God by disobeying the prohibition to eat the apple. No. They spoiled it by running and hiding and holding on to their own power, not trusting that “in the image of God” means God will never love them less for their messing things up nor love them more for getting things right.