The Devotion of Listening

Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord. – Proverbs 8:34,35

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me – John 10:27

In the classic Christian book by Oswald Chambers, “My Utmost for His Highest,” Dr. Chambers talks about a subject that is not comfortable for many Christians. I know this because it is not always comfortable for me (and if nothing else is true on this earth that I am “everyman” is most obvious). Nonetheless, this week, the week that on the calendar many Christians call “holy”, I have decided to deeply concern myself with the God I serve. I have realized a few things about my faith that I rededicated myself to this week. One of those was one purpose of the cross we often avoid; that Jesus died so we may have communication with God, our Father, now and forevermore. Oswald Chambers called this the devotion of hearing.

Here are some things I want to convey about resurrection power of Jesus Christ and the way we interpret it that affect this privilege that we have gained through faith in Jesus. These are things I have learned:

1. Just because I have listened carefully and intently to one thing from God does not mean that I will listen to everything He says.

2. I show God my lack of love for Him and lack of respect for the work that Jesus has done by the insensitivity of my heart and mind toward what He says. The analogy is this, “If I love my friend, I will instinctively understand what he wants. And Jesus said, "You are My friends . . ." (John 15:14).”

3. I disobeyed some command of my Lord’s this week. If I had realized that it was a command of Jesus, I would not have deliberately disobeyed it (would I?). Jesus sensitized my heart and mind by filling me with the Holy Spirit. I need to respect this and my peace, joy and ability to serve Him rightly depends on it!

4. The devotion of hearing gives me hearing in my ears as God hears and in my heart to fulfill the promise of Jesus to his followers when He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” - John 14:11-13

5. Having Jesus restore us to our full ranks as sons and daughters of the Utmost it appears that most of us show incredible disrespect to God because we don’t even hear Him. He might as well never have restored us. Or, having done so, re-established lines of communication with us and spoken to us at all.

Certainly a goal of my spiritual life is to embrace such close identification with Jesus Christ that I will always hear God and know that God always hears me. Jesus gratefully had this expectation (see John 11:41) and so should I.

Friends and loved ones, if I am united with Jesus Christ, I need to know God is speaking to me – all the time. I need to hear God all the time through the devotion of hearing. A flower, a tree, or a servant of God may convey God’s message to me. It may come from a devotional, a book, a touch, and an act of kindness or a distinct and severe wrap on the fingers.

What hinders me from hearing is my inability to see as He sees. Perhaps it is not that I don’t want to hear God, but I am not devoted to viewing life from the perspective of a crucified life; a life where I identify with Jesus and what He has done for me. Instead I am devoted to things and even to service and my own convictions from the thesaurus of my history. If that is true then God may say whatever He wants, but I just don’t hear Him. I must change this.

The attitude of a child of God should always be, "Speak, for Your servant hears." If I have not developed and nurtured this devotion of hearing, I can only hear God’s voice at certain times. At other times I am deaf to Him because my attention is to old ears and my old ways of hearing.

My ears, my way are not living a full and eternal life of a child of God. Does this ring true to you today? Join me. Commit with me in this festive joyous time to the devotion of hearing. Jesus gave it all that I could have that which I do not deserve and that is, in part, my Father’s undivided attention and His desire to talk to me. May you hear His voice today! I remain…

InHISgrip,
~J~