“I have something to say to you.” (Luke 7:40 NLT)
If Jesus said that to you, would you immediately put down your duster, turn off your computer, the radio, or TV, hang up the cell phone, or stop whatever you were doing and say as Samuel did, “Speak, for Your servant is listening,” (1 Sam. 3:10 NIV)?
Though I have learned to be still before the Lord, I sometimes fail to put that knowledge into practice. Allowing outside circumstances to overtake me, I listen to the multitude of voices or duties instead of the Lord.
I know I am not alone in this.
First, how many of us truly take time to be alone with the Lord, Whom we say we love? Second, even if we take five minutes to pray, we usually talk at God, treating prayer as a monologue and not as a conversation.
Conversing with the Lord implies that we listen to Him. He says, “Oh, that My people would listen to Me.” (Ps. 81:13a NKJV) Do we really make a conscious effort to sit down and listen for those precious whispers of the Lord?
Always in a rush, we put in our requests and rush out the door, not waiting to hear what God has to say. God does not have carry-out service like a drive-thru Taco Bell, and we don’t get to return what we receive if it isn’t prepared the way we want or to complain if it isn’t served as fast as we would like it.
If we unscramble the word ‘listen,’ what do we get? Enlist and silent! When we enlist in prayer, our priority should be more than just handing God our grocery lists of wants and needs; we should be to silent and listen.
God says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Ps. 46:10 NKJV) We must be still, for God is a Gentleman and does not force His way through all world’s racket buzzing around in our heads.
David said of being in the Lord’s presence, “That’s the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world, the perfect getaway far from the buzz of traffic.” (Ps. 27:4 Msg)
Other psalms give us comfort in that secret place, “You called in trouble, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder.” (Ps. 81:7 NKJV) and “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” (Ps. 91:1 NKJV)
Even Jesus Himself spoke of that secret place, “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” (Matt. 6:6 NKJV)
In the Lord’s presence is that secret place where no outcries of earth intrude, where no ghosts of years past interrupt, where no outside opinions interfere, where no urgency of decisions impede.
If we were still enough, we would hear all those messages of love, comfort, peace, guidance, and, yes, even discipline, that we long to hear. God is a Gentleman and will only speak to us when we shut out the racket of the world and stop talking. If we do not still our senses and hush our hearts, how can we hear heaven’s music?
Oh, to hush each intruder attempting to thwart the calm necessary for our weary and restless souls that we might experience that sacred silence in His presence, that secret fellowship with Him. Do we desire this more than the wooings of the world?
The Still Small Voice has no destination if there is no listening ear. * Is intimacy with the Lord missing in your life?
* Do you take time to be still in His presence?
* Do you follow after Jesus seeking something from Him as the multitudes did,
* Or do you lean upon His breast as John the beloved did, just to be near Him, or sit at His feet as Mary did, just to serve Him in worship by pouring out your thanks and your tears as fragrant oil upon His body?
It only costs us our time to listen but it costs us our quality of life not to listen!
Jesus has something to say to you…will you listen?
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