A Listening Ear

Have you ever had one of those mornings where you are suddenly awakened from a deep and restful sleep?  I experienced a time like that today.  I am not sure if it was my wife’s movements, or some noises that emanated from the open window, or something else.  Whatever the cause, I groggily awoke, shook off the cobwebs, rolled over and looked at the clock and realized that it was about an hour earlier than I wanted to get up!  

After making some useless attempts to go back to sleep, I finally turned and laid on my back with my eyes closed and just listened.  I listened to see if the Lord had anything for me to hear.  There were no resounding words of revelation, no peels of thunder, no nothing… until the words of Psalm 40:1-2 began to run like an endless loop through my thoughts.  “I waited patiently for the Lord.  He turned to me and heard my cry for help.  He pulled me out of a horrible pit, out of the mud and clay.  He set my feet on a rock and made my steps secure.”  (God’s Word ©)

As these words repeated themselves in my mind, I began to meditate on a few thoughts concerning the actions that these verses described.  First there is the expectant call to the Lord.  Next we have the Lord turning, or inclining or reaching out to the one who is calling to Him.  Thirdly, and maybe most importantly, we understand that the Lord “listened to” or “heard” the reason for the call and then took the appropriate action to help the individual in need. 

Once I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed and shuffled into my study with a hot cup of Java in hand, I turned to Psalm 40 in my Bible and reviewed the first two verses to assure that the words that triggered my earlier meditation had been correct.   I no sooner got to the end of the second line when I noticed the word “heard” seemingly flashing before my eyes.  According to Strong’s that word means “to hear intelligently, with the implication of attention.”  In other words, the Lord stopped what He was doing and gave the individual in need His full and undivided attention.  He then carefully listened so as to carefully consider and discern the full intent of the speaker’s concerns.

The Lord’s actions as recorded in this Psalm brought back to me the content of the countless communication classes that I had taken in the various management positions that I held over the years.  The Lord’s response illustrated the classic outline of effective listening skills.  The full meaning of the word “heard” implies that He gave the speaker His total attention, summarized what was being said back to the speaker in order to assure understanding of what was said, and then gave His input and followed up with the appropriate course of action needed to resolve the situation.

If you and I are to be the hand of the Lord to those around us, then we should follow the Lord’s example.  Weak communication skills tends to be one of the largest contributors to problems in the work place.  I believe the same could be said for problems in the family, the church and among friends and acquaintances.  As Christians we need to be able to listen to those who come to us.  Over the last three years I have received a lot of advice and/or suggestions from well meaning people.  Some of it has been accurate and some not so accurate.  Most of the useful information that I have heard has normally come from those who have taken the time to listen attentively to our situation and needs and then base their input on those unique facts.  These are individuals that I have come to trust and will continue to listen to.  On the other hand, there are those who have shared their thoughts with us that were based solely on their own conjecture of our situation and history.  Most of their suggestions did not make much sense to me.  These are individuals to whom I would not place a strong level of reliability or trust toward in future input.

As a living, breathing and active example of Jesus Christ on this earth, I want my words to be as truthful and helpful as they can be.  I do not want to say or do anything that would place a doubt about Christ in the mind of those who might come to me for assistance.  It is therefore imperative that I utilize the correct, attentive skills of listening when someone talks to me.  How about you?  It is very easy to be so caught up with our own busy lives that we miss what people are really trying to say to us.  Our verse in Psalm 40:1 says that the Lord “heard my cry for help.“  Has anybody been crying out for help to you?  It’s definitely something to consider…  Have a good day.  Keep in tune to God’s Word and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”