Listening

Silence tends to cause people to become uncomfortable. Have you noticed that when a professor pauses to let students answer a question, the seconds that he waits for a response can seem to last for an eternity? And, we’re all familiar with that uncomfortable pause that occurs in the middle of a conversation with another person when no one knows quite what to say next. So, the conversation weaves around trivial matters. We talk about the weather. We talk about food. We talk about politics. We talk about society and its moral decay. We talk about intercultural affairs. We talk about school, work, and family. It doesn’t really matter what it is that we are talking about; all that matters is that we are talking, and silence is avoided.

Within communication, there are always two parts. First part – I listen, you speak. Second part – you listen, I speak. It’s like a dance – we go back and forth between listening and speaking. To listen, though, we have to first be silent. If communication is talking with someone, how can we hear if we are doing all of the talking 100% of the time? We don’t like silence. It makes us feel uncomfortable. But in order to listen, silence on our part is key.

Throughout Scripture, God calls us to “Be still and know that I Am God.” The importance of listening – the importance of learning to hear His voice – cannot be emphasized enough. Learning to hear the voice of God is crucial to our walk with Him. It is absolutely essential to our growth in Him. God calls us to listen. It is when we are quiet that we hear Him speaking. It is okay to be silent in prayer. It is as we are silent and wait for Him to speak that we are able to hear. Sometimes He speaks right away, sometimes we have to wait for a while. But, the secret is to abide -- to wait in His Presence with a listening ear. Andrew Murray writes in his book, “Abide in Christ”: “Retire frequently with Him into the inner chamber of the heart, where the gentle voice of the Spirit is only heard if all is still.” What an awesome privilege it is to still ourselves before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Throughout Scripture, men and women continuously say: “And I heard the voice of the Lord… and the Word of the Lord came… and the Lord spoke…” How did they hear Him? They had learned to hear Him. Their ears and hearts were positioned to hear Him speak. In order to listen, we have to learn to listen. We must learn to hear His voice. We must have our ears tuned to His voice. The great Grace of God will teach us to hear Him. But we must ask Him to open our ears to hear Him speak. When my Mom calls me on the phone, she doesn’t have to say, “Hi, Em. This is Mom.” All she has to say at the beginning of a conversation is, “Hi!” I know it is her on the other end of the line because I know her voice. How do I know her voice? I’ve spent time listening to her. My ears are trained to recognize her voice. In fact, because I’ve come to recognize her voice, I can distinguish it from all others. This practice of recognizing and distinguishing voices is the same with recognizing and distinguishing the voice of the Lord. I love the passage in John 10 about sheep listening to the Shepherd’s voice. Those sheep have been trained to hear the Shepherd. They know the voice of their Master. And, what is beautiful is that they won’t listen to a stranger’s voice because they don’t recognize it. Their ears had been tuned to recognize a specific voice – the specific tone of the Master. How did they get trained? They spent alot of time in the pasture -- they spent alot of time simply "hanging around" and being with the Shepherd. Let’s be those sheep. Let’s learn to hear the voice of our Good Shepherd by spending time with Him.

“I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice.” (John 10:1-5)

Part of positioning ourselves to listen and hear His voice includes the laying down of our own personal ambitions, hidden agendas and motives. If we don’t, these will affect our ability to hear His will clearly. The will of God is already in our favor – so let’s lay down our own ambitions at the foot of the Cross, and let Him speak to us of His plans and His purposes for our lives. His plans are much better than the plans that we make on our own. His ways are higher! He wants to speak into our lives. Isaiah 30:21 contains a precious promise from the Lord: “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'" He will speak. He will lead. He will direct. However, it is all dependent on whether or not we learn to hear His voice.

I think that the greatest tragedy in the Old Testament is the hard condition of the nation of Israel in Jeremiah 6:10 when the Lord says:

“To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to Me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The Word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.”

The people could not hear or receive the Word of the Lord. When the Lord looked for someone to speak to, there was no one to listen. The nation had no pleasure in the Word of the Lord. Rather than be filled with awe that the God of the universe would speak to them, the Israelites took offense at the Word of God. How tragic. May our hearts always be soft to the call of the Lord. “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:15). Let’s not become discouraged if we don’t hear Him right away. Time spent in the secret place is never a waste – even if we don’t hear Him every time. Let’s find pleasure in Him. Let’s silence ourselves before Him. Let’s take time to wait in His presence. Let’s learn to discern. He will speak. And, let’s be quick to obey Him when He speaks. I think author Oswald Chambers sums it up best when he writes in "My Utmost for His Highest":

“Get into the habit of saying, 'Speak, Lord,' and life will become a romance. Every time circumstances press, say, 'Speak, Lord'; make time to listen. Chastening is more than a means of discipline, it is meant to get me to the place of saying, "Speak, Lord." Recall the time when God did speak to you…. As we listen, our ear gets acute, and, like Jesus, we shall hear God all the time.”