“Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil. Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let your words be few.” Ecclesiastes 5:1-2

 Listening

Cultivating Awe and Reverence For God, Day 16

Walk his Way revisited —First posted in January, 2017

 Studies show that the decibel level on earth since 1950 has doubled every ten years. Everything around us contributes to noise pollution, and we are slowly going deaf. Worse yet is the spiritual deafness that comes from not shutting out all the noise to just listen for God’s voice.

Listening is, by definition, a quiet activity. It implies not talking, and it requires paying attention if one is to understand what is being said.

Paul addressed the noise in our lives—whether from outside of us or from within—with this Scripture: “…Aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands…” (1 Thessalonians 4:11). Silence is a discipline needed by those who would be students of the Lord and His Word.

It takes discipline to turn off the media, social or otherwise, and just be alone with our own thoughts and God. To be quiet is to trust God to say all that needs to be said. We keep our mouth shut and ears open to a voice besides our own. His is the voice of wisdom, comfort, tenderness, warning, instruction, love, and discernment. But all too often, we’d rather listen to the noise in our own heads.

When we are silent before Him, we are suddenly aware of our flaws. If we just keep making noise, we won’t have to think about the sins and shortcomings that nag at us, those things the Holy Spirit is whispering to us in order to bring correction. When there are no voices—no friends, no texts, no TV, no radio, no magazines—many of us start to get restless and impatient. Our brains are used to constant input, and we go through a sort of withdrawal when we begin to get quiet before Him. The enemy of our soul has us “wired for sound.”

If you have lost your spiritual passion for the things of God, it is time to learn the discipline of silence. If you are ready to cultivate awe and reverence for God, here is the jump off point: solitude and listening. If Jesus needed to be alone with the Father, we can be certain that we do, too.

“But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him” (Habakkuk 2:20). We can sit silently before Him and wait. This is the silence that says, “God is on His throne, and I’m on earth, and I’m not Him. So I’ll just keep my mouth shut.”

He’s calling us to a new lifestyle. Try fasting from words for a period of time. Try driving without the radio on. Try opening a journal when you read the Word; ask God to speak and to give you the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5), and write down what comes to you. Try spending an evening away from TV and just say, “God, what do You have to say to me?”

Father, You listen to us all the time. Help us listen to You. We pray that You would speak in such a way so that we can hear. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.