There’s a
scene in Bruce Almighty, where he can hear the sound of the voices of all the
prayers being prayed at any one moment all around the world and it’s deafening.
So varied are the languages, so different the types of prayers, all mushed in
together it’s like a buzz. Life can feel so bombarded with things vying for our
attention it’s like we can’t hear or prioritise any one thing clearly. Most of
us really do need and want to be able to hear the voice of the Father and
without a doubt He has much to say, yet in an increasingly ‘buzzy’ world it can
be hard.
Praise God
He is not limited in any way and hears clearly each voice attending to it with
His gracious truth and love, but for us hearing takes effort. Listening
requires humility, it requires us to turn down the buzz of our own agenda and
give our attention fully to what is being said. Not only that, it requires the
patience not to interrupt, but to wait for a full account, to reflect, measure
and weigh what’s been said. In some senses listening is the external bit and
hearing is the act of taking in, making sense of what’s been communicated so we
are different as a result. In Rom 12:2 it says 'we are to be transformed day by
day by the renewing of our minds' but this process can only occur if we are open
to hear.
Mathew
13:13-17, cautions us not to get so comfortable in the little box of our own
world that our hearing is dulled. It elaborates, that there are those who want
a one way relationship with God, so their ears are stopped up and their eyes
are screwed shut! I have to confess there are times in my life when I blatantly
knew I was doing wrong but clapped my hands over my lugholes and carried on in
sin - only to come a cropper down the line and have to stand before the one who
didn’t come to condemn me but bring me life and eat a slice of humble pie while
He bathed the cuts and bruises of my own making.
Listening is
a good thing it goes on to say in verses 16&17 ‘blessed are you lot who set your hearts to
hear, other’s would give their eye teeth to be able to access what you can,
it’s a treasure’! (my paraphrase)
Guys we have what generations before didn’t have – a record of the actual words
of Christ in the Bible, the Holy Spirit, other saints…
Let’s get
hungry for hearing and be assured God has much to say!
- · Ask God to speak; He is a gentleman and will never yell…
- · Plan 10 mins today to simply sit in silence with God (I’ve found a lit candle helps me to focus)
- · Take a verse of scripture and ponder on it / repeat it, write down on a note pad what comes to mind.
Happy
hearing
Ruth x
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