LISTEN TO ME!
LISTEN!
You’re Not Listening to Me!
Have you had someone tell you that you’re not listening to them? Can you honestly say, “I’m listening” or are you just thinking about what you’re going to say next?
Proverbs 2:2 “Make your ear attentive to wisdom; incline your heart to understanding.” In other words, the quieter you become, the more you hear. That’s been a sticky note on my computer for weeks now. Even in James 1:19 we find “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” Swift to hear! You see one reference to being ‘swift’ and two to being ‘slow’. I suspect that if you are ‘swift to hear’ you will be much slower to speak and fall into wrath (anger).
Be Swift to Listen
There are many voices in the world and many people saying, “Listen to me!” Being online, watching TV, music, politics, spiritual leaders…all telling us, “Listen to me!” Then the question is asked, “what will I be swift to listen to”?
Your answer to that question would be, “you will be swift to listen to whatever you would like to gain from that voice”. I had a dream that woke me up and kept me up a few days ago. In the dream I’d been given specific information that would save my life before what would happen came to pass. I took it seriously and started out in the right direction but was then sidetracked by two frivolous issues. I turned back and what was predicted came to pass. There was no fix after that and I suffered with all the others who were also caught in the situation. Had I ‘listened’ and was ‘swift to hear’ I would not have perished. After all, in the dream I had knowledge previous to the event that would have saved me.
Listen Because You Want to Know
It takes more to listen than we are sometimes willing to give. Listening requires a genuine interest in understanding what is being said…or even revealed. When you listen, you sometimes need to read between the lines which would require you to communicate back to the one speaking. ‘Loading your gun behind your back’ while waiting for your turn to jump in with your response is not listening.
I’m Listening! Hurry Up and Spit it Out!
Bottom line? Don’t be in a hurry to be right, the winner in an argument, in a hurry to get to the next sentence or your next activity. Be ‘swift to listen’! And when it comes to God….be ‘swift to listen’! Become quiet to hear from God. The louder your life is, the less time you spend being ‘swift to listen’. And something good to listen to
Proverbs 4:20-23 “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.”
You can’t go wrong when you ‘listen’ to those words and do them!
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