Be Willing to Listen to God’s Voice 

As we get older, some of us develop hearing problems. I know a number of people who make use of hearing aids in order to assist them with this issue. I am aware of one person who recently struggled with being able to understand what was being said to her over the phone due to her hearing aid not functioning well. It was a call from a doctor’s office with important instructions about a prescription she was taking. However, she wasn’t sure if she had heard correctly what they were saying. Some things we hear can be more significant than others. It may not matter if I hear some trivial comment made by someone on a game show on TV. However, it can be vital that I hear what a physician is trying to communicate to me about my personal health.

It is even more important that we hear what God says to us. His words affect not only the quality of our present lives but also the state of our existence in eternity. Nevertheless, I am afraid that many of us aren’t hearing Him. It has nothing to do with our capability of hearing. It has more to do with our willingness. Jesus proclaimed, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 11:15). He was not simply saying, “Listen! Pay attention to what I am saying!” He was also pointing out that even though we all have ears, we may choose not to use them. We can refuse to listen. Jesus had preceded that statement about ears with the clarifying phrase, “If you are willing to receive it” (11:14). He was telling them truth, but they had to be willing to open their ears, minds, and hearts in order to receive it.

 Do we have ears to hear what the Lord says to us? The opportunity is abundantly there for most of us. Jesus has spoken to us. We have the Bible to faithfully communicate God’s will to us. We have the Holy Spirit to apply those truths to our lives. We can hear preachers proclaim it. We can read it for ourselves. While it is true that there are many other voices that would seek to drown out what God is saying, most of us have access to hearing what He wants to communicate to us – especially the wonderful good news about salvation in Jesus. But are we willing to listen?

Many people are refusing to hear what the Lord is saying to them. They don’t want to hear that they are sinners who are on the wrong road in life. They don’t want to hear that they need to change. They don’t want to listen to the call to submit to the will of God. They want to keep doing what they want to do. Even those who profess to be Christians and Christian ministers can be guilty of this. We can get so set in our beliefs that we have been taught or opinions we have developed that we aren’t open to any contradictory truth, even when it is clearly revealed in God’s Word. I know people who follow Jesus who adamantly declare that they will change their views and alter their lives if they are shown a truth in the Bible that would suggest they need to do so. However, when confronted by such truth, they often still refuse to listen.

Let’s make sure we have ears to hear the word of the Lord to us. Don’t shut His voice out when it isn’t what you want to hear or when what He says goes against your preferred view. Let’s be willing to receive the truth from God, no matter what it is.