Learning to Listen

Listen. This is my well-beloved Son, my Chosen One. Listen to Him! As the Voice died away, Jesus stood there alone. And the disciples kept silent…

The silence will teach us if we will listen.

 Profoundly deaf since infancy, Sue Thomas knew what it wass to live in a world of total silence. For the first 30 years of her life, that silence was her worst enemy and she battled with the repercussions of it daily.  But the Lord used the very thing that nearly destroyed her, the silence, and turned it into something golden, something she learned to appreciate and thank Him for. 

She loved to often remind us that it is in the silence where we truly can hear the still small voice of God speaking to us. We are so busy in our noise filled surroundings that if we don’t press the pause button and sit still we will miss Him as He quietly passes by.

Our modern culture is so fast paced. In a flash we can communicate face to face with people on the other side of the world. Styles and trends and current issues fluctuate like a breathe of wind. Our current world is rocked with turbulence and unrest. We become consumed with the excitement of the wind, the fire, and the earthquake. But the Lord does not meet us here.

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but ye would have none of it.” Isaiah 30.15

We are constantly on the move, going, going, going.   The pressures of daily life are all-consuming. There are needs and demands everywhere we turn. We cannot escape even for a moment since we are firmly attached by our fingertips to our electronic devices.

We cry out with Elijah of old,

“I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty…”

His response to our frenzied service for Him is unexpected.

“Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by…”

Go Out.  Leave the cave you’ve buried yourself in.  Put your phone down for 20 minutes.  You are about to go into the Presence of God.

Stand on the mountain.   Jesus often went up into the mountain to pray.  And when He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray, and when the evening came He was there alone. (Matthew 14.23)  When you stand on that mountain you are in the presence of the Lord. He is already there, waiting, even while you are stuck in your cave and not conscious of Him at all. He loves the solitude and the quietness of the mountain. You will often find Jesus there. One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the night praying to God. Luke 6.12

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. 1 Kings 19.10-12

And after the fire came a gentle whisper.   

He speaks to us today. He speaks in a voice that even physically deaf people like Sue can ‘hear’. But we must take time apart in the quietness alone to listen. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. James 4.8 He will speak to us through His Word and through our circumstances.  We only need to find our prayer mountain and unplug from the world to be quiet before Him or we will miss His gentle whisper.

DS

The Lord is in His Holy Temple, let all the earth be silent before Him!! Habakkuk 2.20