The discipline of listening

But Jesus on His part did not entrust Himself to them, because He knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for He Himself knew what was in man. John 2.24, 25

An important, but often overlooked, aspect of our regimen for spiritual growth is the discipline of listening for the Lord. Scripture refers to this discipline under a number of headings: waiting on the Lord; being searched by God; coming under conviction by the Spirit; "hearing" the Lord; having the Lord "answer" us; and so forth. These are fairly passive disciplines; they involve our being acted upon by God in some particular manner - to discover sin in some area of our lives; to illuminate our minds or redirect our hearts; to enlarge our affections or firm up our priorities; to bring us to the realization of some promise from His Word. But although they are passive disciplines, they require our active attention. We must devote the necessary time, make the appropriate preparations, and patiently "listen" for the Lord to act. Needless to say, whatever it is God might want to do in us He is not obligated to perform on demand. Sometimes we must wait long, over many periods of time, and in various settings, before the Lord begins to accomplish what He intends. But the more we make listening for the Lord a part of our daily regimen of spiritual disciplines, the more we are likely to "hear" Him when He chooses to act. How do we do this?

Of course, reflective or meditative reading of Scripture is the starting-point and touchstone for all listening to God. We shouldn't just rush through our daily readings. Instead, we must pay close attention as we read, listening for the Lord to slow us down, draw our focus to a single verse or idea, or lead us to pause for extended contemplation at some particular point. Fruitful times of "hearing" the Lord in deeply personal ways can blossom from such "dialogical" reading of the Word of God. Journaling is a good way to slow down your reading and coax your thoughts and responses to the surface, where God can interact with and shape them more readily. In prayer, also, we need to leave time for listening. Our prayers should not be filled only with our speaking to the Lord. Sit in silence before the Lord, having offered up praise, thanks, or supplications, and see if He doesn't impress you in some way, either to respond to your prayers, turn them in another direction, or with respect to something entirely different. Lingering over a psalm or hymn, allowing the Lord to bring those words to fuller expression, can open many new avenues of insight. At times, in prayer, waiting on the Lord, I have suddenly received an insight into some project I was working on, and would be led to talk with the Lord further about this, and even to excuse myself momentarily from my prayers while I wrote some things down or made a change in something. I can't help but believe this was an impulse from the Lord, because I hadn't been thinking at all about that project. Sometimes we need to listen as the Lord speaks to us through other people. They may not come right out and say, "I have a message from God for you," but the effect of what they share can be just as powerful. I can think of several times that people have spoken to me in utterly life-transforming ways, some going back almost forty years. This can only have been the work of God in their words. God also speaks to us through His creation, but only if we take the time to listen for Him. Adding some aspect of study, contemplation, and involvement with the created world can help us to "hear" God speaking in exciting new ways.

We should be careful to listen for the voice of Jesus, because Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows what's wrong within us, what's right, what needs improving, and what will suit us best. He knows how to affirm us, guide us, convict us, or persuade us. He promises to be with us always, to guide us into all truth, and to set us free in the light of His Word. But we must listen for Him and be open to whatever He might wish to make known, by whatever means. In all your spiritual disciplines, make a point of listening for Lord, waiting patiently in silence, allowing Him to search your hear, letting the light of His Word pierce to the separating of joints and marrow in your soul, responding to His prompts and piques. Because He knows us completely, and with infinite love, we will be wise and blessed by making listening for the Lord a more consistent feature of our regimen of practices for spiritual growth.

Comments (2)

	1. 05/05/2008 11:57
	Listening, Hindsight and the "Tyranny o My challenge to listening to the Lord is to detach myself from the agenda of the day, especially those issues that, one might argue, demand to be addressed now. Before I begin to listen to the Lord, I conscieously express trust that most "emergencies" of life aren't. That the anxiousness over life's necessities is exactly what Jesus warns us about in order to free us to seek His kingdom agenda.     I find that my supplications often cloud seeing past the momentary and immediate to seeing the sovereign design of God's unfolding plan that hints at why He often says "no" to what seems reasonable. It is through listening that the Lord can give the grace of hindsight, a reward of sorts in walking conversationally with Him. Our Lord seeks our attention and that, in faith, we must practice a benign neglect of daily demands if they steal us away from solitude where hearing His soft speaking voice become audible.    As TM notes, the Lord may speak even when one's thoughts are somewhere else. When He does, I too, look for pen and paper. Report

Sam Smith

	2. 05/05/2008 22:20
	So true... So true, Sam, about the need to preserve that time of solitude and waiting on the Lord. I also find that He breaks in on me at unexpected times, and I also go for the pen and paper, so that I can recall in silence His impulse or prompt. I have never been disappointed, although I'm still waiting for some of these sudden irruptions to come to fruition.    Blessings.    T. M. Report

T. M. Moore

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