Listen. How many time do we do that each day? My guess is more then you think. Maybe you're at Starbucks and listening to make sure they got your drink right. Or maybe you're on the other side and making sure that you get the customers drink right! Anyway you look at it, listening is not just a every once in a while thing. You are doing it all the time.
Now the listening I'm talking about here is stuff that if you miss something then really no big deal usually.
What about those times when you really need to pay attention? In today's culture do we take time to actually listen to other people? And what about listening to the Holy Spirit?
During this Christmas season it is almost impossible to go anywhere that isn't playing Christmas music. Its on at the store, its on in your car, it on at your house, you have it on your iPod, its EVERYWHERE. Now I would venture to say that it is this way year around. Probably not with Christmas music but the news, the latest podcast, music, or your favorite talk shows. We are inundated with noise! And while none of those things are necessarily wrong per-say, when they are always on we lose a chance to hear something else. That still small voice.
11 So He said, “Go forth and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORDwas not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, butthe LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 1 Kings 19:11-13
God wasn't in the great, strong wind. He wasn't in the earthquake. Nor was He in the fire. He was in the gentle blowing. Now when I think of gentle blowing I think of that being in the Colorado mountains next to an aspen grove. And you might not feel the breeze but you can see it moving through the top of those aspens. Not even noticeable unless you are looking for it. I feel like that is the way that God talks to us. Unless you are looking for it, pursuing and seeking after God, you might just miss what He has to say to you. Now there are other ways that God speaks to you. Through what is commonly known as you "Conscience." For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, 16 on the day when, according to my gospel,God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. Romans 2: 14-16
You know what I'm talking about. As a kid did you really need someone to tell you that it was wrong to steal or lie? No, you knew that it was wrong in your heart. And that same conscience "pricks" us sometime as an adult.
"You really shouldn't run that red light"
"It is really the best use of your time to play video games for 6 hours on end?"
"Haven't you been on Facebook just a little to long???" (Guilty as charged...)
We all have felt that nudge from the Holy Spirit now and then. Sometimes we "listen" and sometimes we just drown it out.
Imagine if you will, a guy (lets call him... Bob) at work who walks around all day with his really nice, Bose noise-canceling headphones in and his music blasting. Bob doesn't take them out for meetings, phone calls, conversations. Nothing. At the end of the year there is this big project due. So the day before it's due Bob takes out his headphone while everyone else is finishing up last min details, making last min revisions and asks "Hey what do you want me to do?" Do you think anyone is going to answer? He hasn't been listening all along so why should they think that Bob is starting now?
Is that you and I sometimes with God? We are always immersed in everything else and he is trying to talk to us. Tell us whats going on. Tell us "The Plan." But we can't hear anything. And then when we really need to know the plan we quickly pop out of our loud environmental and are like "Hey God I need that plan like RIGHT NOW!" And God's like "I already told you the whole thing..."
I wonder how much we miss cause we aren't listening to God? If you look back at the great men of faith in history, from Moses to David. From St. Augustine to R.C. Sproul. These men had devoted prayer lives. And when I mean prayer lives I don't mean praying for hours on end for every little need they could think of. No, you see prayer is not your monologue to God. Its a conversation with the Creator of the universe. The Alpha and the Omega. The Beginning and End. The Always Has and the Always Will Be. The King of kings! And yet, He cares enough about you to not just listen to your grocery list of needs/wants/desires/ect. But he wants to have a relationship with you. So much so that He sent His own Son to die on the Cross for our sins. If that doesn't impact you then I don't know what will. Doesn't matter how many times you hear that truth. You hear it again and should just be in awe that the one who could have just destroyed us after Adam sinned, and started over. No! He loved us so much and desired relationship again that Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Phil 2:6-7
This is the Christmas story. A story of a God who loved us. A story of one who left all his majesty to come to this earth and be born in a dirty stable. And have a bed of half eaten hay. This is the greatest story ever told.
So this Christmas season, in the midst of shopping, working at a busy Christian retail establishment, planning parties, going to parties, making food, entertaining relatives, decorating, ect, ect, ect, ect.
Make time to be silent. To listen. To hear what God wants to tell you. And to thank and worship the One who came for you.
