Hearing and Faith

     We learn to trust someone by getting to know them. We get to know them by listening to them and hanging out with them, in a sense, by “experiencing them.” Most of us know this, so it shouldn’t surprise us that it works the same way in our relationship with God. Our trust in Him grows as we get to know Him through our ongoing conversations with Him and our continuing experience of Him.

     For some reason, though, this truth has taken on deeper meaning for me lately. I find myself marveling that I spent so much of my life (55 years!) mostly deaf to Papa’s voice. Oh, my internal world was filled with voices, to be sure! But God’s voice was a rare visitor amidst the cacophony of sounds in my inner world. But I am indescribably grateful that those other voices have now been almost completely silenced and that the voice I now hear almost continuously is God’s voice. Yes, I am becoming more aware of just how clear He has made His voice to me! Much of the time, in wonderful ways, I hear even His whispers. And hearing Him (which includes sensing, seeing, knowing) has led to a deeper and deeper trust in Him. How remarkable this is, coming from a man who just a few years ago barely knew that God talked!

     The connection between hearing Him well and trusting Him more was recently reintroduced to me via my being led back to a journal entry from one year ago. In that entry I was reflecting on the connection between hearing and faith in the midst of the battle for Jettie’s life. I think that what I wrote may bless you:

     From a June 28, 2010 journal entry (slightly edited):

     Papa, as I ponder the events of last night, I think what strikes me the most is the wonder of how listening to you works. I am in awe that you are speaking so clearly to me right now, Papa, if I will just listen. And last night, as I was feeling I should be “more productive” you told me instead to read more in The List, and I was blown away by how deeply what I read touched me and confirmed so many things. And this morning, as I was wondering why we all don’t just listen all the time, I sensed you saying, “Because you think it’s too good to be true—that the God of the Universes would speak to you that clearly, that often, that well, that tenderly!” And that is so true, Papa! But you are changing this in me right now in ways that seem to be deeper than ever. And I am so undone with gratitude, even as I continue (as you of course know) to fend off fears. “Give us this day our daily bread.” Ah, Papa. Because you love us so much and want us to trust you, daily bread is all that we are promised, but it is promised! Yet we read so casually the passages in the Exodus story that tell how manna was given only for each day, without stopping to ponder what it would have been like to wake up each morning wondering if the manna would be there! What a picture of constant dependence and trust on you, and that’s only in the physical arena! Ah, Papa, we so want to find our security in things we (wrongly) think we have control over, when you are offering us yourself instead, the only true security. “In you, LORD, I take refuge…” “You are my refuge…”

     So once again I find myself face to face with how utterly important it is to hear God, all the time, about everything. If we cannot hear Him, how can we grow to trust Him? If we are to live by “every word that proceeds from His mouth,” (Deuteronomy 8:3b), how can we live if we cannot hear the words that are constantly proceeding from His mouth? Oh, how I long to help every believer know and understand by experience how to hear Papa’s voice! And please know that hearing God clearly is every believer’s privilege. You can learn to hear Him really well, too. Jesus said “My sheep hear my voice” NOT “some of my sheep hear my voice.” If you are one of His sheep, you can hear His voice.

So here are a few thoughts on how you can increase your moment-by-moment hearing of His voice. Please note that these are listed as equals, not as a prioritized list. All of these are important, methinks!

·        Listen! You won’t hear what you are not listening for. It takes practice to learn to listen, whether we are learning to listen to other people or to God. But taking the time to listen, listen, listen, quieting our heart to do so, is really important if you would learn to hear God’s voice well.

·        Be willing to do whatever He says. He loves you and wants to “partner” with you, not obliterate you and your desires, so it’s safe to listen and respond when He gives guidance and instruction!

·        Lay aside as many assumptions and preconceptions as you possibly can. You won’t hear what you don’t think He will say. One way this has worked out in my life is that I now am able to hear Papa’s frequent affirmation and encouragement. Until I realized that He would actually say things like, “That was well done” or “I really liked it when you…” I was unable to hear Him even though He was indeed saying things like that to me (every good Father affirms and encourages, so the Perfect Father does so even more).

·        Learn to hear Him in Scripture. Most believers know that there is a connection between hearing God in His Word and growing in faith and they usually quote Romans 10:17, “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” to “prove this.” And they read God’s word to “build their faith.” But this is not what this particular passage means. “Hearing God’s word” in this passage refers to hearing the spoken message of the Gospel about Christ. So just reading the Bible, stuffing ourselves with information to “build faith” is not really how hearing God’s word and faith are connected. Rather, because faith is a relational term that refers to trust, the kind of “hearing God in His Word” that builds faith is hearing God as He speaks to us Spirit to spirit through His Word. It is hearing God’s word spoken into our circumstances and spoken into our hearts. We hear Papa in His word and get to know Him better when the Spirit enlightens what we are reading so that we hear God speak directly to our hearts through a passage. Again, stilling our hearts and taking time to listen (and respond as is appropriate) will greatly increase our hearing God through Scripture.

     Well, I am not sure I have said what is burning in my heart, but I have at least tried. My burning passion is to help every follower of Jesus engage in a “running conversation” with Father God, by His Spirit, in the same way that Jesus did. In my opinion, there is no other way to truly “build faith.” But if we hear Him and get to know Him, there is no limit to how much “God-confidence” will grow! May it be so for us all!

Listening for Abba's whispers,

Tom, One of His little boys