Found Listening

He who has ears to hear, let him hear! ~ Matthew 13:9

I never really thought about why I have two ears before. My parents have two ears, my husband has two ears, even my dog has two ears; it just seems normal to me. When I was a child, I learned about the 5 senses and how my ears were for hearing. And since then, I basically only thought of hearing in terms of what sounds entered my ears. However, as I've grown in my relationship with Christ, and then just this morning, when I was reading about the secret place of God and prayer, I started to think about the other place I hear...with my spiritual ears. I've been reading a book that was given to me by a friend called, Secrets of the Secret Place, by Bob Sorge. After reading the table of contents, I thought I'd probably skip ahead to chapter 20, because the first several chapters were in a section called, "Accepting the Great Invitation." When I read that, I foolishly thought to myself, "I've been a Christian for years. I understand about the invitation." But then I started reading, from the beginning, and saw that I didn't know it all and I didn't walk it all, and the hardest to face: I wasn't hearing it all. I'm in chapter three and have discovered that the "invitation" is not about accepting Jesus, as I thought it would be, but it's about prayer and mostly it's about hearing from God.

I hear from God quite often. He talks to me in my car, during the day, and when I'm about to write my blogs. But what have I been missing by not having "listening time" during prayer? We pray before dinner and pray before bed, but those are all speaking times. I've rarely had listening times. And I know why. It's because I simply haven't done it. I could tell you that it's because I live in a fast-paced Martha world, but that's just another excuse. I am a child of God by His choice. I am a Christ follower by my choice. If I am truly going to sit at the feet of Jesus, I need to do a lot more listening.

Secrets of the Secret Place talks about the where, how, why, and what of the secret place. The "where" and "how" are, "When you enter your room, and shut your door, you are in the presence of your Father. Instantaneously!" (8). The key, as the author points out, is to shut the door. The Bible says that prayer should be in the privacy of your secret place and should take place between you and the Father, (see Matthew 6:6). The "why" of the secret place is to "build foundations into your life that will survive the harshest storms of life," (9). In John 16:33 (my favorite verse), Jesus promised us that we would face storms in this world, but we should be confident in Him, because He has already overcome the world (and death).

My role or the "what" in the secret place is "to listen for anything God might want to speak," with the understanding that "I can't tell God what to speak, or when to speak it. But I can position myself in the secret place so that, when He chooses to speak, I am found listening," (12). That last sentence reminds me of Luke 12, when Jesus is talking about watchfulness: "'Be dressed and ready for service...like men waiting for their master to return...so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes,'" (vv 35-37). It will be better for me if, when God is ready to speak, I am found listening. Though God has, can, and may speak so that my physical ears can hear, He, most often speaks so that my heart or my spiritual ears hear. God is heard in many ways. Sometimes He is heard in a thundercloud (see Psalm 81:7), and sometimes His voice is no more audible than a whisper (see 1 Kings 19:12). Hearing the thundercloud is easy. Hearing the whisper takes training and preparation.

Throughout the gospels, Jesus often talks about Himself as a Shepherd who speaks sweetly and gently to His sheep. He has said, "My sheep listen to my voice...and they follow me," (John 10:27). If my desire is to know and follow the Will of God, then I must listen for the voice of God. I need to be found listening when my Jesus comes to speak to me.