Submitted by admin on Sun, 19/04/2009 - 3:49pm
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Have you ever had trouble communicating with someone? Where you're just not connecting? Where you're not "tune in"—you're on a different frequency...where you pick up the wrong signal (misunderstood)...where there is too much static (too much other "noise")...where the message is garbled (mixed in with other messages)...where there is no signal (nothing comes through)?
Communication problems are common. We find communication issues in all kinds of relationships: parent-child...teen-parent...husband-wife...boss-worker...customer-sales...even God-people.
Fifteen times in the NT Jesus says, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear" or "He who has an ear, let him hear." But how are we supposed to do that? How do we hear the voice of God? How does God in heaven communicate with us—earth-bound human beings, manipulated by feelings and emotions, easily deceived, affected by sinful nature?
Wouldn't it be great if God would text us? Call us on the cell phone? Email us? What if God put a message up for you on a giant billboard alongside the road? It would be hard to miss God's message if he tied a note to a brick and threw it through your window!
I wouldn't mind a "burning bush" experience—something obvious and plain, a message so clear that there can be no doubt. "Take off your shoes. You're standing on holy ground."
But God seldom does things in such dramatic fashion. He tends to be a lot more subtle than that. In fact, it almost seems at times that he's testing us to see whether or not we're really serious about listening for his voice. It's as though only those who are diligent and sincere about hearing from God are really going to hear him.
You could almost say if we're too laid back and casual, then we shouldn't expect to hear from God. We have to dig a little deeper to connect with him. A superficial, shallow relationship doesn't really put us in touch with the Almighty. In fact, that's almost what it sounds like is happening in the NT:
Matthew 13:10-11
It seems Jesus was speaking only to those on the "inside"—only the favored few. It sounds like he was using secret language or special code so a lot of people wouldn't get the point. But I think what was really going on was that he was speaking only to those sincere enough and diligent enough to come and ask him, "What's the meaning of this? We really want to understand what you are saying."
Matthew 13:12-16
On one level, parables were easy understand. Jesus used simple, down-to-earth illustrations about everyday objects familiar to farmers, fishermen, merchants and others in his audience.
People with ears to hear (those serious about seeking the truth) could dig deeper and find profound spiritual insight. But for others, Jesus' parables were little more than fascinating but puzzling riddles. Those who were resistant to his message would not have the interest or the energy to pursue deeper truths.
Jesus frequently used parables when speaking to large crowds, but in private he provided his disciples with more detailed explanations. [QSB]
Mark 4:33-34
It comes back to the question: How do you hear from God? The answer—simply put—is "open your ears." Because hearing from God is both simple and complex—it's easy to hear from God and it's quite difficult...depending on where you're coming from.
On the one hand, it's hard to hear from God because there are so many others trying to make us listen to them. There are so many other voices competing for our attention! So, with the "noise" bombarding our spiritual ears all the time, it can become very confusing: which is his voice? which decision is his will?
But on the other hand, it should be easy to hear from God because we knows he wants to talk to us. If we can begin to see him in our everyday, ordinary existence...if we can recognize his hand at work all around us...if we can learn to distinguish (or discern) his action from the actions of others, then we'll grow more sensitive to his voice—better able to recognize his voice.
Bruce Olson went as a missionary to South America many years ago. There in Colombia, he began working among the Motilone tribe of Indians. One day he walked into the jungle with a hunting party:
Our intrusion into the jungles had brought the usual reaction from assorted birds and monkeys that day, but as we quietly slipped through the dense undergrowth I noticed a sudden escalation in the volume and intensity of the cacophony. Millions of katydids joined the animal squawks and screeches, raising the noise level to the point where our human voices were nearly drowned out. I'd never heard anything like it. Astonished, I turned to a nearby Motilone and shouted, "Listen to that! Isn't it incredible?"
The Indian nodded his agreement. "Yes," he called back, "We heard it too. It's a piping turkey!"
His remark stopped me in my tracks. A piping turkey? All I heard was chaotic, ear-shattering racket! How could anyone notice the voice of one lone turkey in the midst of this din?
The Motilone had seen my confusion and signaled me to stop and listen quietly. When I did, it took several minutes before I began to pick out which sounds were which—animals, birds, insects, humans. Then, slowly, the separate voices became more and more distinct. Finally, after more patient listening, I heard it. Behind the hue and cry of the jungle, behind the voices of my companions, behind the quiet sound of my own breathing, was the haunting, reedy voice of the piping turkey, sounding for all the world like it was calling to us from inside a hollow tube.
It had been a poignant moment for me, a moment that had spoken to me of much more than the Motilones' highly developed sense of hearing and my own lack of auditory discrimination. It had made me wonder what I'd missed—not only in the jungles, but in my own spiritual life. How much had I overlooked when I'd failed to patiently "tune in" to God's subtle voice in the midst of life's clamor and activity?
In the years that followed, the piping turkey came to mind many times as I'd struggled to discern God's voice and sense his quiet, often barely detectable presence in the seemingly chaotic situations I encountered. But over time, I learned enough patience to be able to see God in the subscripts of life. And I learned from experience that even when I couldn't see or hear what He was doing, I could trust that He was always there, always working out His sovereign will, even when I was too overwhelmed by the "noise" to notice or appreciate His complex orchestrations.
Ordinary people can hear from God when they learn how to be still and listen, so they can recognize when God is at work in their lives—and when he is speaking to them. Questions like: Am I in God's will? Am I doing the right thing? Lord, what job shall I take?
But people looking for direction in life, for guidance, for "a word" from God need to know that God really wants to connect with them. He wants a relationship with them.
Someone says, "Well how do you know that God wants to talk to us?" There are several good reasons why we know God wants to talk to us:
1. Because of Jesus. We know God wants to connect with us and have a relationship with us because he sent Jesus to remove the sin that prevents us from coming to God. We know God wants to communicate with us because he sent Jesus. Knowing Jesus is essential to hearing from God.
John 1:1; Hebrews 1:1-2; John 8:28
2. Because of his Word. God gave the written word because he had a message he wanted to send to us. He wanted us to learn from him and know about him.
2 Timothy 3:15-17; Psalm 119:105; Isaiah 55:10-11
3. Because of the Holy Spirit. He gave supernatural gifts to help us understand and grow closer to him.
Acts 2:17-18; 1 Corinthians 12:7-10; John 16:13
4. Because of creation. God reveals himself in the wonders of creation. When you look up at the stars at night...when you examine the miracles of a single cell protozoa or the flagellum of a bacteria...when you drink in the colors of a majestic sunset over a mountain lake...when you watch the aurora borealis dancing in the night sky...God is showing you himself. He's revealing something about his amazing power and love. You should not be able to look at a flower or a butterfly without thinking about the God who made them and put them there for your enjoyment.
Psalm 19:1-4; Romans 1:19-20
Dennis Hodulick, tatooed, motorcycle-driving, ex-con, drug user used to see nothing but hatred and trouble all around him. As far as he was concerned, the world was filled with pain and hostility—because that was all that he'd conditioned himself to see. Then he began a new hobby—photography. And he started taking close-up photographs of small, colorful things—like flowers or butterflies. And he discovered, looking through the camera lens, that if he shut out all the ugliness of the world, there really was beautiful things to be found. And that, he says, was the beginning of his journey that led him to find God. Dennis began to see God's invisible qualities; they were clearly seen in God's creation.
5. Because God asks us to "listen." Every time God says, "hear" or "listen" it's another proof that he wants to communicate with us.
Deuteronomy 6:4; Joshua 3:9; Matthew 11:15; Matthew 13:9,43; Mark 4:9,23; Luke 8:8; 14:35; Revelations 2:7,11,17,29; Revelations 3:6,13,22
God wants to talk to us. He wants us to listen to him. He wants us to talk to him. That is to say, God wants to have a relationship with us.
Psalms 33:8-9; Jeremiah 33:3
He wants a relationship with us—an intimate, personal relationship.
Do you know what we have difficulty hearing from God? It's because our relationship with God isn't what it should be! If there are things that come between us and God...things that take a piece of us away from our relationship with God... If part of our hearts belong to something or someone other than the Lord, then we will have trouble hearing from God. Jesus said it clearly:
John 8:47
Do you have a relationship with God? Have you considered the possibility that he wants to show himself to you? That he wants to come into your life and rearrange your priorities? That he wants to help you sort things out and move in a new direction? That your heart needs to belong 100 percent to him?
Let's begin by thanking him for making himself available to us... for wanting to do something with the mess we've made of our lives. Let's begin by coming to him and taking him up on his offer: Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.