Listening to God

“Behold my Servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom My soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.” –Isaiah 42:1. “Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar.  The Lord called Me from the womb, from the body of my mother He named My name.  He made My mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand He hid Me; He made Me a polished arrow; in His quiver He hid me away.” –Isaiah 49:1-2.  “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord:  look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug.” –Isaiah 51:1.  “Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings.” –Isaiah 51:7.  “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago.” –Isaiah 51:9.

Amidst all the voices that vie for our attention, how can we listen to God?  How can we know that God indeed speaks in this day of unrest and godlessness?  Listening to God is as much a part of prayer as voicing our prayers to Him.  The focal verses I’ve selected for today are from the section of Isaiah known as ‘The Servant Songs.”  Messianic, these Servant Songs look forward to the coming of One who will be God’s representative on earth.  A cry throughout these Servant Songs is “Listen to me!”  It was an earnest plea that all nations listen and heed the message of the Servant whose purpose was to bring justice and peace, not only to Israel but to the Gentile world as well.

We can often despair when we listen to news of our own United States.  Add our political, economic and social morass to the suffering going on around the world and we sometimes want to cry out: “Why, why?”  In seeking an individual Christian’s place in the total picture of how to respond and what to do, we may feel completely inadequate to make a difference.  We may even want to give up. But then we listen to God’s voice and hear Him speak:  “Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of man nor be dismayed at their revilings” (Isa. 51:7).  God invites the faithful to take time apart with Him and evaluate what is important, what is our particular role in the troubled times in which we live.  I, for one, think a major task for Christians is to pray and to listen to God in these troubled times.

I read a very helpful sermon by Robert Benton entitled “Listening to God.”  In it he gave some good pointers,  positive steps in our listening to God.  He says, “Be still in the midst of our days and know that God is God and is speaking all the time.”  We must take time and make the effort to listen.  We hear God in His printed Word, the Bible.  It is the guide for our lives and has the principles and precepts we need to follow Him.  We hear God speak through His messengers, dedicated ministers and teachers who “rightly divide (interpret) the Word of God.”  God speaks and we can listen through the Holy Spirit who is present and active in the life of a Christian.  Paul in I Corinthians 2:10 wrote about the Holy Spirit’s action in our hearing and heeding God:  “”These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.  For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”  Prayer is not just about making known our requests to God.  He knows what we need before we ask (but, like a good earthly father likes to hear from his children, so God likes to hear from us).  Prayer is listening to the still small voice of God that leaves us with assurance, revelation and insight to know what the right paths are and what our calling is in responding and following.  We must know assuredly that God still makes Himself known in our day.  Let us listen and with discernment heed God’s voice.

Prayer.  Lord, quiet my heart that I may hear Your voice and know Your way.  Amen.