God’s Listener

God gave us two ears and one mouth so that we could speak less and listen more. Besides the horrifying sight of having a friend with one ear and two blabbering mouths, God wants us to learn to listen, not just to friends. More importantly, He wants us to develop a keen ear for Him.

Why do we need to listen to Him?

(1) Out of love-duty. We have been reconciled with God through the blood of Christ (Col 1:21-22), meaning that we have been redeemed from the grasps of sin and its deadly consequence of death. We have grown up with too many an epic story that tells of a distressed damsel reciprocally offering herself to marriage with her heroic saviour. God’s grace is unfathomable and is beyond the shallow gratification that we can offer. However, what we can do is to offer our best. He saved us, and it is fitting that we become bond-servants like John.

As MacArthur highlights in his book, “Because the Time is Near”, bond-servants were a special category of slaves that willingly serve their masters out of love and devotion. The laws in the Torah wrote that in such cases, the master should ‘pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.’ (Ex 21:5-6) Many posts ago, I wrote about bearing the mark of the cross, like how a lamb bears the carving of its shepherd and a staunch member brands himself with the seal of his organization. We listen to God because He is our benefactor, and we are obliged, out of both love and duty, to listen to Him and live our new lives according to His Will.

(2) So we can serve Him. Isaiah wrote that he ‘heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who shall go for us?” (Is 6:8) He replied, “Here am I send me!” In order to live for God, we must first discover what His Will for us is. God has beckoned the Israelites to come near Him, for He is the Lord who saved them from Egypt. Yet idolatry, greed, sexual immorality and sins pulled them away from God. Only people who have stayed close to Him have been able to hear His voice. Noah, like Isaiah, heard the Lord’s voice because he was a godly man, his godliness made apparent by his faith in God despite the mockery he faced for building the ark. If we want to be God’s stewards, we need to listen to His instructions. If we want to be faithful ones, we need to constantly have a keen ear for His Will.

(3) God is our only true refuge in times of need. Elijah was disillusioned upon hearing Jezebel’s poisonous vow, so much so that he pleaded the Lord to take his life (I Kings 19:4). He was the great prophet that defeated the 300 prophets on Baal on Mount Carmel with God’s strength. Yet within a day, he became a man fleeing for his life, losing his faith in God. God’s appearance to him at Mount Horeb came not in the wind, earthquake or fire, but in the still, small voice that came after. The NIV writes ‘gentle whisper’. In order to listen to God, we need to peel our ears, especially in face of hardship. It takes a lot of faith to keep calm and listen to that whisper in danger, but it is precisely faith that God will prove He is Jehovah Shalom.

(4) Because He is the Source of All Blessings. God promises us that He is Jehovah Jireh. Jesus says the prerequisite to God’s providence is that we must seek His kingdom and righteousness (Matt 6:33), aka His Will, ‘and all these things shall be added unto you’. We need to find out God’s Will so that we can please Him. He will answer our prayers and even give us the crown of life for being faithful stewards when we finally see Him again.

How do we listen to Him?

(1) Sanctification
A seraph used a piece of coal to purify Isaiah of his sin (Is 6:7), so that he could meet God. What can be extrapolated from here are two things: to be God’s listener we need to be saved and consecrate ourselves to the Lord, what John Calvin calls ‘Perseverance of the Saints’.

(2) Discovering His Will
God’s revelation has been made through three modes, as categorized by systematic theology: Natural Revelation, Common Revelation and Special Revelation (hope I got the terms right). God reveals to us His Creator identity through everyday things we see around us. Nature tells us it is the handiwork God has shewn to Man (Ps 8:3) so that we may give due reverence to Him, and know that He is the Sovereign God (Rom 1:20), a title that encompasses matters of judgment, grace, faith and providence. Common Revelation is made to us via the Bible that is so readily available in many parts of the world today. An example of God’s Will revealed through the Bible is the Ten Commandments, the crux of which is to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength (Deut 6:5, Matt 22:37). Special Revelation pertains to the Will He has for each of us. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we pray for His Will to be enlightened upon us each day. His Will for each of us is not too abstract to be understood – simple decisions made each day, year and phase of life, are the gradual fruition of His plan for you in life. The emphasis is on prayer, which entails spiritual intimacy with God, best complemented with daily immersion in His Word (aka Quiet Time). Another form of spiritual bread is reading Christian literature, which ought not be substituted for quiet time, however.

(3) A Willing Heart

Isaiah’s “Here am I. Send me!” is a reply of willing fervency. What boils down to the core of being God’s listener is a heart that is humble enough to receive, acknowledge and execute His Will. Young Samuel also pledged his service to God, “Speak for your servant is listening’ (I Sam 3:10). Isaiah and Samuel both listened to God, and God used them and blessed them greatly – Isaiah being God’s prophet, Samuel being in favour of both God and men (I Sam 2:26).

Talking about Common Revelation, Jesus, the One ‘whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze’ (Rev 2:18), beckons in this final book of the Canon for us to be God’s Listener. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Jesus ended off his letter to the seven churches in this same manner. He could not emphasise more on the importance of listening to God – His last words of warning to Laodicea and Thyatira and His words of comfort and affirmation to Smyrna and Philadelphia. Likewise, God reminds us of His sovereignty in judgment, his righteousness and justice. The unfaithful servant who had refused to listen to God’s still, small voice will be refused of the rewards God gives to the faithful steward who had done otherwise.

Our ears are symbolic reminders of the need for spiritual intimacy with God, so we could hear what He wants to say to us. How often do we, in the chaotic world of paper chases and the ‘certification of self’, of seeking peer pleasure and merriment, of worldly recognition, ignore the beckoning of the Holy Spirit in us to read the Bible, pray to God and be close-r to Him?

Let he who has an ear, hear what God has to say to him!