"Take heed therefore how ye hear: for
whosoever hath, to him shall be given;
and whosoever hath not, from him shall
be taken even that which he seemeth to have."
Luke 8:18
In the days to come it will be vital for
us to hear God as clearly as possible.
But hearing God, while straightforward
to the pure, will prove challenging
to those whose ears are full of
of the noisy wax of this world.
First, most of us are exposed to too many human
words, and this overexposure can dilute
our ability to respond quickly and accurately
to God when He speaks to us. The second
thing is that we must wrestle with is discerning
the purity of what we hear. It is up to us to
listen for God's Voice alone and to put
every other voice in its proper place. There is
a difference between humanly good things and
things spoken from the divine throne of God.
And third, we must not have a disconnect between
hearing God and obeying Him.
Paul says,"There are...many kinds of
voices in the world, and none of them is
without its own message." (1 Corinthians 14:10).
Our world is oversaturated with voices,
with sound, with opinion. Even we, as
Christians, are exposed to myriads of words
that present themselves as "Christian" words;
as the Voice or Mind of God; as timely, anointed,
prophetic or "cutting edge" words. Often,
they are no such thing.
Solomon said, "For in the multitude of dreams and
many words there are also divers vanities: but
fear thou God." (Ecclesiastes 5:7) We live
in a society saturated with words and this
is true even of the Christian world. We have
24/7 access to million of Christian words
through Christian television, radio, internet,
conferences, cd's etc. etc. etc. etc.
For all the good a plethora of sermons,
bible studies, and messages can bring,
I would contend that overindulging in them
can harden us to really hearing God as
deeply as He deserves to be heard. Nothing can
replace the Voice of God which speaks
to us in the silent depths of our being.
Nothing. Jesus went each day to be alone
with God. It was His Life and His lifeline.
Christ did not tune into Mt.of Olives Radio
to hear God. He just sat quietly before
His Father.
Do we understand that we can substitute
good human words, become christian media
junkies, but actually spend little time
alone with God? Multi-tasking with
God is not a good idea, it is an insult.
We are drowning in messages, in twitters,
in IM's, in church services, bible
studies, programs and every wordy form
of "Christian" endeavor. Yet, so
many people say they have trouble
hearing God. God speaks through men
and women, have no doubt, but it
is through men and women who have
been alone with Him and listened.
It is possible to replace the voice of God
with the voice of our favorite preacher or
teacher, however good, and not realize the
difference!
Can we listen to preaching or teaching for
hours on end but walk away unchanged or
gospel-hardened? How much is too much? We may even
recognize the now rare instances of anointed
preaching but it can still have no affect within.
How long should we ponder one message
before we get offered (or just
decide to gobble down) another?
It is like biting into chocolates
and then putting them back in the
box when we don't find the flavor
we desire. Having too many choices,
too many words to pick from, tempts
us to listen to the ones that most
suit our flesh, or tempts us to hear
none of them at all or worse yet,
lures us into thinking that by
hearing we have somehow magically
owned the truth presented. A godly
message always points us back to
interaction with God Himself.
Do we feel challenged by something
and then the next minute we are
on to more information gorging
so that the initial challenge goes
unwrestled with?
I love Sermonaudio.com, but when does it
become Christian entertainment and not
a ministration of the Spirit? Perhaps
when I use it in place of going directly
to God.
Should there be a moratorium on
preaching until the oceans of
of unsubstantial and nutritionally empty
words show themselves for what they are
and we are famished to hear the Word
of the Lord ALONE? Or should we just
get alone with God and then the emptiness
of men's words will become perfectly clear?
Our opening verse tells us to take
heed how we hear for how we hear will
determine what we get to keep and what
will get taken away from us. There are
a million words out there and to try
to hear them all will end up in our
doing justice to none of them and
most certainly missing God and all
He intends for us.
We have to listen for God's Voice. We have
to quiet our hearts and shut off the
noise. And we have to move ourselves
away from the lethargy of lazy hearing.
For hearing demands more than just mental
acknowledgement, it demands obedience. And
we cannot obey two or three or three million
masters. It is Christ Alone we are meant to
obey.
Hearing God means that I listen for Him
above all others. It means I shut out
the noise and voices of the world to
listen to God alone. It also means that
I act on what I hear. Jesus says, "those
who love me, obey me," (John 14:23). There
is no system breakdown between hearing and
then doing. May it always be so with us.
May we truly block out the noise of the
world and listen for the Voice of our Lord.
Silence isn't just golden, its godly.
(more to come)
hearing God
No comments:
Post a Comment