“I was accused in my political life of not listening by all manner and sundry of people, but that’s what you might expect in politics,” John Howard, Australia’s 25th Prime Minister.
It wasn’t always intentional. At the age of nine, Mr Howard was diagnosed with a serious hearing deficiency which worsened with every passing year.
Though he went under the surgeon’s knife multiple times to improve his hearing, deafness is something he’s dealt with his whole life.
Like John Howard, my grandma had hearing difficulties. In her old age, deafness in both ears made her dependent on hearing aids. These were quite noticeable and looped over the backs of her ears. Occasionally, they’d let off a high pitched squeal when the settings went haywire.
Most young people, like yourselves, have excellent hearing. So you don’t need to wear hearing aids. But has this ever happened to you in the middle of a conversation with a friend?
Your ears recognized the familiar sound of your friend’s voice. You heard the words escape from their lips.
You looked deep into your friend’s eyes and smiled. Occasionally, you even nodded your head to appear interested, but it was all an act. Your mind had packed up and left ages ago.
You heard your friend speak, but you weren’t listening at all.
Listening involves paying close attention to, and making sense of, what we hear.
It’s interesting to note that for the Hebrews, hearing included listening, but also another important aspect.
For centuries the Jewish people have recited the Shema every morning and evening to remind them of their commitment to God. It’s based on three sections of scripture.
It begins with, “Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, The LORD is one.”
Jesus would have learned the words of the Shema as a toddler sitting on his mother’s lap, or with his father during family prayer time.
The word hear means so much more than the physiological process of recognizing sound.
In Jewish thought, to hear means to listen, to take heed and to respond with action.
To “hear” means to listen, and to obey.
Hearing spiritual truth from the Lord means allowing it to sink deep and take root in our hearts so that it yields fruit, including the fruit of obedience.
Following the opening line of the Shema is, “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
To hear, or in other words, to listen and obey is wrapped up in loving God. Obedience and love are inextricably linked like Siamese twins.
One way to hear from God is through regularly attending a New Testament Church where the Word of God is faithfully preached.
Let’s be honest, behind closed doors we all assess and critique a speaker’s abilities. Pity the man behind the pulpit—after flicking to a random page in his Bible—flogging a point to death on the first verse his eyes come across. This reeks of an obvious lack of preparation.
It’s like watching an inexperienced rapper, lost for rhythm, fumbling for words and missing the beat.
Long winded speakers and recycled sermons never get much love either.
And those dry and bland deliveries send us drifting on thoughts about what we might like to eat for lunch.
Overused catch phrases, distracting mannerisms, or heavy accents are affectionately mimicked on the car ride to church. It’s all a bit of light hearted fun to psyche ourselves up for what’s to come.
Warfare—spiritual warfare right in our very own pews.
Our minds and hearts can become so distracted that we strain to hear God’s voice.
We can make a few adjustments to turn the battle in our favour.
Late to church again! It makes logical sense just to set our alarms to go off earlier.
We yawn and fight to keep our eyelids open. How about leaving last night’s party at a more reasonable hour. Or swapping Netflix binge night from Saturday to Friday?
Our stomachs break out in beastlike noises in the middle of the sermon. We could cook up a big brekky—crispy bacon, fried eggs, and pancakes dripping in maple syrup. . . mmmm. Or if you’re a health nut, add a few extra seeds in your Acai bowl.
Our heads swivel in the direction of the new top Jessie’s wearing. We wonder where we could get one. Mentally slap yourselves girls, we’re in church to worship God, not fashion.
(Same goes for stretching our optical nerves at the new guy sitting two rows ahead. And quit drooling. Puppies drool; ladies don’t.)
We can’t keep up with finding the verses on our Bible App. Resist the urge to scroll for shoes on eBay. God sees everything, even when others can’t see what’s on our screens.
It might be high time to reacquaint ourselves with using a physical Bible—with actual pages—instead of virtual ones on our mobile phones.
We could also splurge on a pretty notebook and pen to entice us to take down notes.
We’ve heard this sermon all before. It’s nothing new. We’re so bored. Ah, but perhaps God wants us to hear it again. Maybe we haven’t learned what we needed the first time around.
If you’re anything like me, you’re fighting against your personal prejudices and preconceived notions about the preacher. You’re fighting your own inattentiveness to hear the word of the Lord. Our enemy doesn’t have to do much if we’re sabotaging ourselves.
Hearing God’s voice from the pulpit is a privilege.
We need to focus on the message not the messenger.
Spiritual battles are won from preparation, prayer, proactivity and power from the Holy Spirit.
We are as holy as we want to be. We are as attentive as we want to be.
No wonder Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” Mark 4:9
Bibliography
Lucas, S.E. 2009, The Art of Public Speaking 10th Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Tverberg. L. 2012, Walking in the dust of the Rabbi Jesus, Zondervan, Michigan.
Famous people who wear hearing aids. ValueHearing. Retrieved 3rd August 2020 from https://www.blog.ValueHearing.com.au
Wow miss, that was amazing(and no wonder why you were so proud of the deer ????) Great Post miss. I really love how it focuses on not just hearing God, but meditating on what he says to us and applying it to our lives. It’s really helped me miss.
Thank you so much ❤️
I’m glad it helped. It was my pleasure.