The Monday Morning Quarterback
Yesterday I preached on listening to God and to others. My primary text was I Samuel 3:1-10, and the verse on which I zeroed in was verse 10 (which reads in The Message), "Speak. I'm you're servant, ready to listen." In context, Samuel is addressing God.
One of my observations is that we are so consumed with fitting everything into your lives that we hardly take time to listen to God. I think that most of us want to hear a word from God, but we can't see how, or we don't know how to listen to God. The key word in Samuel's response to God is, "ready, " "ready to listen." If we are not ready to listen, we won't listen.
So the first thing to do is to check out your hearts and ask yourself the question, "Am I ready (and wanting) to listen to God? If an honest answer to that question yields a "no," then you can stop there and focus on the issue of the desire to be ready. Honesty before God is always the best policy, so tell God that you don't have the readiness to listen and ask God to put that desire into your heart.
If you are ready to listen, then I think you must carve out time in your life, even if for only five minutes at a time, to slow down and wait and listen. My experience and the experience of faithful followers of Jesus whose stories I have heard or read all indicate that God will not be rushed. It is not so different from marriage or a close friendship. If you don't slow down and take time to listen to your spouse or friend, you won't hear them, and the relationship will suffer.
Theologians refer to God at times as Deus Abscondus, the hidden God. If we are truly ready to listen, God may/will speak to us through prayer, scripture, circumstances, and others. God will not only speak to us through family and friends, but through the marginalized, our opponents, those who are mentally challenged, etc.
Are you ready to listen?
One of my observations is that we are so consumed with fitting everything into your lives that we hardly take time to listen to God. I think that most of us want to hear a word from God, but we can't see how, or we don't know how to listen to God. The key word in Samuel's response to God is, "ready, " "ready to listen." If we are not ready to listen, we won't listen.
So the first thing to do is to check out your hearts and ask yourself the question, "Am I ready (and wanting) to listen to God? If an honest answer to that question yields a "no," then you can stop there and focus on the issue of the desire to be ready. Honesty before God is always the best policy, so tell God that you don't have the readiness to listen and ask God to put that desire into your heart.
If you are ready to listen, then I think you must carve out time in your life, even if for only five minutes at a time, to slow down and wait and listen. My experience and the experience of faithful followers of Jesus whose stories I have heard or read all indicate that God will not be rushed. It is not so different from marriage or a close friendship. If you don't slow down and take time to listen to your spouse or friend, you won't hear them, and the relationship will suffer.
Theologians refer to God at times as Deus Abscondus, the hidden God. If we are truly ready to listen, God may/will speak to us through prayer, scripture, circumstances, and others. God will not only speak to us through family and friends, but through the marginalized, our opponents, those who are mentally challenged, etc.
Are you ready to listen?
posted by UCC Medfield at 8:40 AM
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