Hearing God

This theme was inspired by watching Colin’s elderly parents deal with the dual handicaps of sight and hearing loss, and I wrote previously about seeing God and that poor eyesight doesn’t impede our ability to see the Lord. Today let’s think about hearing and, specifically, hearing God.
 
It may be helpful to start with the difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is a physiological act. The dictionary defines it as the “process, function or power of perceiving sound.” Listening, however, requires you to pay attention to the words and sounds that you hear and to absorb their meaning and develop an emotional response. The dictionary defines it as “hearing something with thoughtful attention.”
 
Listening can be broken down a step further: active and passive listening. Active listening requires curiosity, motivation, purpose and effort. The active listener attempts to process and understand what they are hearing. At the opposite end of the spectrum is passive listening. This is characterised as being disconnected, inattentive and unreceptive.
 
As Christians we clearly want to be active listeners when it comes to God and to connect and engage attentively. But the tricky part is how.
 
The Old Testament, Genesis in particular, is full of examples of people who heard God’s actual voice, from Adam through to Daniel and beyond. In the New Testament the apostles heard the voice of God as they walked and talked with Jesus. There is no promise in Scripture to hear God’s audible voice and since Biblical times, such stories tend not to be substantiated and are viewed quite sceptically.
 
But we do have the complete Bible, the inspired Word of God, to read, study and meditate on. This is primarily how God speaks to us today. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
 
But in the same vein as how listening properly requires some effort, in order to hear God’s voice, first we have to belong to God. In John 10:27 Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” We are the sheep who hear and recognise His voice thanks to our saving faith in Jesus Christ who, in turn, becomes our shepherd.
 
We tend to look for direction from God when we have big decisions or face challenges in life. It is easy to overlay our own thoughts and desires on what Scripture says. The key to hearing God though is having a heart that’s open to listening and a mind that’s willing to obey. The more time we spend reading and contemplating the Bible, the easier it should be to listen actively to God’s voice and to recognise His leading in our lives.
 
A prayer - Dear God, open my ears and my heart to your voice.  Help me to listen actively, pay attention and engage purposefully with your Word. Amen

Photo by Larry George II on Unsplash