Am I listening?

(Read John 10)

While my wife and I were watching our granddaughter for a few days, I learned a valuable lesson that taught me about listening and discernment. Our son, his wife, 2.5 year old daughter, and infant baby were all sick, so we offered to take their oldest to our house for a while to allow some peace and healing in their home. “Best laid plans of mice and men.” It started out fine. At first, the toddler was a little quieter and kind of whiny, but she was still her sweet beautiful self. That would change over night. God has a way of communicating with us whether we’re listening or not.

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
Isaiah 30:21

Sometimes, the prophet Isaiah would communicate with God in unmistakable terms. Isaiah’s contemporaries were unable or unwilling to listen to God. They abandoned Him for icons and other gods. On several occasions, God expressed His frustration, pain, and anger to Isaiah. God described the right path to Isaiah for His people to take. He gave Isaiah a map for a relationship with God. For the most part, they didn’t listen or get the message.

The next day, things had gotten worse. My wife had a prior commitment, so I took our cutie out for a while. First to the playground and then out to dinner. The playground visit was a bust. Normally, she’s a rocket bouncing from swings, to slide, to rocking dinosaurs, but we just went through the motions. After about 20 minutes, I decided it was time for dinner. Our meal was spread out over the table: chicken fingers, french fries, and apple juice. She wanted nothing to do with any of it. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! She started swiping the food off the table, crying, and spilling the apple juice all over the place. It was like a horror movie. Who was this beast?!!! Reacting instead of listening, I got frustrated.

How do we know when God is talking to us? What can we do to understand Him better? One friend of mine said, “It’s not like there’s a 1-800 number to talk with God… but I believe the closer we get to The Lord the more familiar we become to His voice. So through Bible study,” (B) added, “we learn and grow and can ‘hear’ God’s voice.”

My date with our granddaughter was over before it started. Her sick-fueled tirade with food flying in the air, fits, and tears was all I needed to see. I drove her home, let her bond a bit with Grammy, and prepared her for bed. That’s when the fireworks started. Vomit, screaming, and more vomit. We knew she had to see her pediatrician. She needed someone who could heal her.

It dawned on me during that sleepless night that all along, she was not only giving me clues, she was trying to tell me something. She was communicating and I wasn’t listening. When this first dawned on me I thought, oh my, this is how it works with listening to God too!

“I hear God talking to me in different ways,” (R) told me. “God reveals Himself through the Holy Spirit as I feel His presence and calmness overtake my worry and stress,” he continued. Listening for God is similar to being a parent or grandparent, I thought. It requires attentive listening, a heightened sense of awareness, and a receptive heart.

“How do you know what God is telling you?” I asked.

“I find His answer in scripture, praise and worship, prayer, the witness of others, and counsel from godly people,” (R) replied. “I discern his voice through faith knowing He will provide for me in His time, giving me peace while I wait.”

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalm 46:10

The words in this Psalm are humbling. Like the words of a father to his children. Yes, we need to quiet our lives and minds, but the passage is not just about being still, it’s more about us stopping our own wasted efforts with things that are under God’s domain. God’s command here was more about trusting and submitting to Him.

One friend said, “There are so many ways that God speaks to me; through His words, through a Godly brother in Christ, or the Holy Spirit convicts my heart about an issue I’ve been questioning.” (D) then discerns what he hears with some simple checks. “I ask, does it align with what He has revealed in scripture? Is it in response to something I prayed about? Will it honor God? And when I ask God about something and I don’t hear from Him, the first thing I think about is if ‘it glorifies His name or it is all about me.'”

Another friend (B) said his method for hearing God is, “Be patient and prayerful. We need to look for, and wait for his guidance through his word and guidance from those who are living in faith that we associate with in our lives.
He is never early or late in his timing.” (B) added, “Now, how does God talk to me? Through His Word, through prayer, through circumstances, through others (trusted friends/believers), and through past experiences.”

“When I’m reading a passage in the Bible that guides me on a decision I have been praying about; when I’m about to do something that is not in the will of God and the Holy Spirit convicts me, I hear God,” my friend (J) said. “I have learned to understand Him better by praying constantly, asking God for wisdom and discernment as I face daily challenges, and by asking God to reveal His truth to me as I study His word.”

To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
John 10:3

Sheep aren’t known to be the most intelligent animals around. They wander wherever they want, when they want, but they do know the unmistakable voice of their shepherd. Even when different flocks are mixed together, they always respond to their shepherd’s voice. The analogy isn’t hard to grasp. Jesus, our shepherd, knows and calls us by name. There are a lot of voices calling to us in our crowded, noisy world. As part of His flock, we need to learn to recognize His voice when he calls.

Our Granddaughter went home a few days earlier than we had planned. She saw her doctor and rested up at her home with Mommy, Daddy, and baby brother. Turned out she had a double ear-infection and pink eye. Even though she has an advanced vocabulary and skills to match for a 2-and-a-half-year-old, I missed all the clues. Whatever she was trying to tell me was as plain as the tears on her face. Maybe I wouldn’t have diagnosed her ear infection, but if I was attentively listening and patiently watching, I would have heard her voice.

A friend (L) said, “It’s hard to explain when God is talking to you, but the few times I remember, I clearly felt a persistent internal voice directing or
bringing my attention to something very specific. I do have a strong intuition and am learning to trust it more, so maybe my intuition is God’s voice to me.”

Jesus will always lead us per His plans for us. We hear His voice because we are His flock. If we are not listening for His voice, that’s something we need to worry about. We need to make sure that we are not a part of another flock with another shepherd.

(B) concluded, “How do I discern if it is really Jesus talking to me? First and foremost it MUST align with God’s Word. God will never contradict His Word. Then I pray that I understand His voice and that it is His will and not my will, even if it is not contrary to the Word.”

It’s been more than 2,000 years since the apostles and prophets walked the earth. God talked to them in a special way that he doesn’t with us. But we have equally effective ways of communicating with Him, of following Him, of going through the narrow gate with Him. By living in faith, discerning through the Word of God, and using the Holy Spirit as our guide, the link is open.

Be still. Listen. Know.

Key Applications:

1. Read John 10. What is the biggest takeaway you get from this Scripture? My belief is that Jesus wants us to know that there is only one path and one shepherd to lead us to Heaven. This week, try to focus on the cues and clues He is sending your way.
2. Ego and hurry gets in the way of living a faithful life. Pride puts blinders and ear plugs in our life. What can you do about it? Pray for answers. Pray to have an open link with Jesus.
3. Take 10 minutes each day and focus on simplicity. Get rid of the white noise in your life. Take that time for a meaningful conversation with a friend in Christ, take that time in God’s word, or take that time in QUIET prayer.

Where else in your life can you live out the teachings of Christ? Look for next week’s Devotion.