Elizabeth Elliot tells her way of time management. She says, “Do the next thing; you always know what it is.” Her advice works well for those who have learned to listen to the Holy Spirit. This is important — Scripture is filled with commands that we listen. This can be challenging yet it helps me to know that God LISTENS to me.
This quality is not mentioned as often as the command to listen to Him, but it is all through the Bible. God listened to Leah, Rachel, Hannah and others when they prayed for a child. He listened to Moses when he interceded for the sin of God’s people, saying, “I myself stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights, and the Lord listened to me that time also. The Lord was unwilling to destroy you.”
The Lord heard King Solomon’s prayer just as he had been newly crowned:
1 Kings 8:28–30. “Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.”
He also listened to Elijah’s prayer to revive a child who had died, and the prayer of Jehoahaz who asked His favor when the king of Syria oppressed Israel, and the prayer of Ezra who asked for a safe journey. The Lord revealed to Isaiah that He would rescue His people from Egypt as they returned to Him and He would listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.
That God listens is summed up in 1 John 5:14–15: “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” Key to assurance that God listens is learning His will and praying accordingly.
This principle is also brought out in the OT. When Israel rebelled against God and was attacked, He refused to listen to their weeping (see Deuteronomy 1:43–45). He would not listen to Balaam because this man prayed against the will of God. Even David knew that if he “had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” but He also knew that God did listen, just as Proverbs 15:29 says: “The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.”
From the OT, I see how sin puts a barricade between my words and God’s ears. Isaiah 1:15 says, “When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.” This applies because of not listening to Him and falling into sin:
Jeremiah 11:11. “Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them.“
Jeremiah 12:17. “But if any nation will not listen, then I will utterly pluck it up and destroy it, declares the Lord.”
Jeremiah 35:17. “Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them and they have not listened, I have called to them and they have not answered.”
Amos 5:23. “Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.”
GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. God’s listening sometimes compares to mine. When my children were small and whining for something else instead of doing a chore I’d given them, I refused to listen. My ears were more open to their requests when they did as they were told. However, if God’s listening depended on my total obedience, it would never happen. He is gracious. He listens because He loves me and He loves me because of who He is, not who I am or what I do. At the same time, that amazing grace draws me to respond. Listening to Him is an important part of having complete assurance that He is listening to me.
2 Corinthians 6:1–2. Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
No comments:
Post a Comment