And Yet, He Hears

Hello to all my readers! It’s been a while since we had a guest writer, so I’d like to introduce my wonderful mother as today’s guest writer! How to describe my mom? Well, she’s my best friend, my role model, and my biggest cheerleader. She is a virtuous woman who has truly modeled for me how to walk with God daily. Enjoy this guest post!

In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears (Psalm 18:6).

One of the senses we often take for granted is our hearing.  Having had hearing issues since my 30’s and now in my late 50’s, I no longer take it for granted…in fact, I am grateful beyond words for every sweet sound I hear.  But it led me to think deeper about how important it is to our Lord and Saviour; how He is our example of hearing well, or listening well, when others speak. Or hearing what the Lord is saying through His precious Word to us.  Daily. How very important it is to our growth as a person, not just physically, but spiritually, as well.

My youngest granddaughter is learning to talk, but how do children learn language? By listening to a parent’s voice. If they are deaf, or hard of hearing, they will miss this important milestone or have trouble developing speech, language and communication. How hard it is to function in a hearing world, without being able to hear! Likewise, our Lord wants us to hear His Voice. Through prayer, through His Word, through a Pastor’s sermon, or a friend’s spiritual admonishment…all these are ways to hear Him.

To learn more, though, I decided to do a little research and I was amazed to discover how many times the word hear (520x), hearing (51x), heard (627x), hearken/listen (151x), and ears (145x) were each mentioned in our KJV Bible. Obviously, the Lord has something to say about hearing, let alone listening!  The definition of Hearken: 1. To listen; to lend the ear; to attend to what is uttered, with eagerness or curiosity. That is His desire for us. Pay attention to what you are hearing, what you are reading and learning about.  And amazingly enough that is the example He gives us. Do you realize that He hears us, all His people, all the time?  How wonderful is that?

Look again at the verse at the beginning of this article. When we are distressed, we can have the ultimate confidence that when we call upon Him, or cry unto Him, He will hear our voice. He, who knows every hair on every created person’s head, will hear our unique voice, if and when we call out to Him. How marvelous is that?? It truly makes me love Him even more! And it increases my desire to be like Him and use my ears (via my necessary hearing aids!) to listen to Him, and listen to others that need Him, and be His ears for Him.

You may be hanging out with friends and hear a lonely friend ask what are you doing this weekend. Is there a way you could include her in your company? Could you send her a note, call her to chat, or text her a hello? Reaching out to others, showing them your love, is a great way to be the ears of Jesus. Sometimes, a sibling may be grumpy; listen to their tone as they answer an innocent question and realize that, “Oh, maybe, they need a listening ear to hear ‘behind the scenes’…maybe they scored poorly on a test, or had words with someone.” Give them a gentle hug, make them a cup of hot chocolate with extra marshmallows or set a Hershey’s kiss on their pillow for later. So many nuances can be heard with our sense of hearing—tones of voices, quiet murmurs or shouts of anger—without our precious ears, without being in tune to what we are hearing, we would miss so much!

Be thankful for your ears, for what you can hear with them, for what you can learn from others.

My prayer for you is that you will listen to the Lord carefully and when you pray, take time to listen to His still, small voice. That you will remain attentive to the Holy Spirit’s promptings and be amazed at how He is able to hear the cries for help from each person that cries out to Him. He knows what is best. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. What a wonderful Lord He is!