Just being quiet before God is not enough. We must do more that lose the noise. We must listen and be intentional about it.
Two friends were walking near Times Square in Manhattan. It was during the noon lunch hour and the streets were filled with people. Cars were honking their horns, taxicabs squealing around corners, and sirens were wailing. The sounds of the city were almost deafening.
Suddenly one friend said, "What an interesting place to hear a cricket."
His friend said, "What? You must be crazy. You couldn't possibly hear a cricket in all of this noise!"
"No, I'm sure of it," his friend said, "I heard a cricket."
"That's crazy," said his friend.
The man, who thought he heard a cricket listened carefully for a moment, and then walked across the street to a big cement planter where some shrubs were growing. He looked into the bushes, beneath the branches and located a small cricket.
His friend was utterly amazed. "That's incredible," said his friend. "You must have superhuman ears!"
"No," said the man who heard the cricket. "My ears are no different from yours. It all depends on what you're listening for."
"But that can't be!" said the friend. "I could never hear a cricket in this noise."
"Yes, it's true," came the reply. "It depends on what is really important to you. Here, let me show you." He reached into his pocket, pulled out a few coins, and discreetly dropped them on the sidewalk. And then, with the noise of the crowded street still blaring in their ears, every head within twenty feet turned and looked to see if the money that tinkled on the pavement was theirs. You can hear what is important to you. Be intentional.
God will never speak to you in contradiction to his word. Whatever way he speaks to you, use the revealed truth in the Bible as a check point. God will never tell you to lie, to skip church because you're tired, to stay out so late on Saturday night that you sleep through church, or to speak truth in an unkind way. Satan lies, but God tells the truth.
We should learn to be quiet and listen often when we pray. Listening like this is often easier in private prayer. I often find the voice of God easier to hear when I am quietly praying alone, or even just being silent before God. Some quietly go for a walk early in the quiet of the morning and speak with God asking him to speak back, and God does.
God speaks to us and helps us to hear his voice through circumstances, but this is tricky. Some like to look at open and closed doors and we should. But some closed doors are obstacles to overcome in the pursuit of the will of God. Other open doors are wrong to walk through. A Christian cannot walk through every apparent open door in his quest to do the will of God. Open doors abound when it comes to making it easy to sin. The discerning listening Christian always compares circumstances to the stated will of God, to the still small voice of God, and finally to the voice of the church.
God speaks through the body of Christ, the Church. The individual persons in the Church make up the body of Christ. Every part has a voice. The nose says I smell smoke. The eye says I don't see anything. The ear says I hear a funny sound. The nose says I still smell smoke. The arm says I'm getting somewhat warm. The lungs say it's getting hard to breath in here. The brain says you must just be warm. The eye says, I don't see anything but I am starting to sting a little. Then, the eye says "hello, I'm seeing red flickering stuff here." The mind says, maybe it's a sunset. The eye says, maybe not! Then the individual parts of the body get together and the eye, nose, ear, and arm cooperate to relay the message to the brain that we are on fire here. The church works like that. All the parts of the body assemble to come to a group conclusion. It is critical in prayer that we come to God expecting him to lead the body in unity. God speaks often and clearly through the body of Christ the church when the church is committed to listen. The Church, for example, is very effective in helping members discern their spiritual gifts. The church can hear and feel sometimes what you yourself cannot see yourself. It might sound like this. "Wow Bob," you are great with the High school group. Have you ever thought of discipling youth?" The voice of God comes to Bob through the church in this case. When you listen to God you must expect the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to speak to you from God. Listen carefully.
Someone said a Christian can smell when something is wrong before he can explain it. I got a letter today from the "Diversity Council" here in Rochester. It was a well written letter with numerous Bible verses in it. How nice I thought, but it smells funny. I'll check it out. Last year the council trained 16,500 youth in Rochester to value diversity and to reduce prejudice. They taught them that ones sexual orientation is something you choose. They taught them that you should never tell someone their value system is wrong. They taught them that homosexuality is a choice to be applauded not a sin to be avoided. They taught them to value the choices of others even if those choices defy God. Listen to God and truth will return to you. If you stop listening to God, you stop hearing and knowing truth.
Never stop asking for help to understand, believe, and follow the things of God. the Spirit of God enables you to understand. If you cannot hear from God, ask the Holy Spirit to teach you what you need to know. Jesus sent the Spirit to teach us all things and remind us of it constantly. Thomas Edison said, "We don't know one millionth of one percent of anything. Trust God alone for truth through the power of the Holy Spirit.
I often say that the commitment to follow the voice of God often precedes his revelation of our task. Are you determined to follow the voice of God before he speaks? Have you ever asked someone to do you a favor? What was there response? Some say, "Depends what it is." Other say "Anything, you name it." What makes the biggest difference in how someone answers that question? Answer, how much they trust you. You would not say anything to someone you do not trust. Trust God enough to say, "Yes Lord, anything, just ask."
You need not listen to God to hear a word from him that he has already spoken. Lets say a parent has a to do list. The child departs to do the chores and returns a short while later. "Mom," the child says, "The list says I am supposed to take out the garbage. Can I skip that one?" "No," the parent says, "Do the list. I will not change my mind." The child comes back and says, "I did not do the list, but can I take a nap now?" "No," the parent says, "Do the list. I will not change my mind." The things spoken in the word of God are God's commands and instructions to us and God is not like a man that he should change his mind. The writer of Hebrews tells it like this:
Friends, we can hear from God and he wants us to listen. Learn to listen carefully to God and practice what you learn, obey what you hear, and thank him much for the conversation.
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Copyright © 2005 by Kevin Binkley