Listening

I have a bad habit. 

I actually do have some loss of hearing (as likely most of us do after a lifetime of living). I had a doctor tell me almost twenty years ago that he could recommend hearing aids but since my hearing loss wasn’t any worse than it is, they’d probably tick me off wearing them and I’d stop.

But back to my bad habit. I would promise on a stack of Bibles that my wife says things with her mouth pointed the opposite direction I’m in or from across the house when I have some noise making appliance on and expect me to hear her (she expects me to drop what I’m doing and come to hear to find out, if the truth be told). So, instinctively, I reply “huh”.  3/4 of the time, she’ll repeat whatever she said to me (the other 1/4 of the time, she will say “never mind” as in if it isn’t important to listen to me, I’m not repeating it). 

Knowing that I have at least a 1 in 4 chance of being given a hard time, I’ll let my mind try to figure out what she said based on whatever pieces I may have heard. For example, I asked her where her cup was this morning and when she replied, “in my music bag,” I thought she said, “in my mother-in-law’s bag.” This was interesting since she, my mother, passed away 17 years ago.

Because of my nature (I try to be funny and a little sarcastic), I usually verbalize what I think I heard hoping that it will add levity and get to what they really tried to communicate.

How often does God try to communicate with us only to have whatever background “noise” going on in our lives garble the message?

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” - Psalm 46:10 ESV

I had a college professor, one of the German professors that also taught Political Science, and I’m not making this up, his name was Wolf Fuerig.  His classroom management style was, when the conversation started and the attention waned, was to speak more softly until the students, straining to hear, stopped talking and paid attention (he also stopped talking and patiently waited, staring at the student who fell asleep in his class).

Maybe that is what God does with us too?  When the noise of our life obfuscates what he’s trying to tell us, he lowers his voice so that we strain to hear him, making us put all the other noise out of our thoughts.

“In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks. On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river (that is, the Tigris) I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves. So I was left alone and saw this great vision, and no strength was left in me. My radiant appearance was fearfully changed, and I retained no strength. Then I heard the sound of his words, and as I heard the sound of his words, I fell on my face in deep sleep with my face to the ground. And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words.” - Daniel 10:2-12

Just like with my wife, I’d be far better off if I took a break from whatever had my attention and went to seek God out, minimizing distractions and letting God repeat himself to me.  The best news is that I will never get the “never mind” response from God.