WOULD YOU EVEN KNOW?

I was reading the story of Balaam the other night and was amused and amazed by his “duh-ness.” Then I got to thinking about my own listening skills where it has to do with the Holy Spirit, and I got an “F”…oh, maybe a “D.” Would I even know if He was trying to tell me something?

Do you find that life is pretty much going through the days doing what you know what God would want you to do? Most of the time there is not much out of the ordinary or outside of the regular unusual. There’s a routine: arise, brush your teeth, go to work or feed the kids, work somewhere out there or at home, fix dinner, wash clothes or read the paper, and go to bed. Laced into that are items like go to church, go to small group, have coffee with a friend, read the Bible, pray.

In all of that, do you ever really hear the Spirit of God prompting you to say something or do something or go somewhere? Probably the problem does not lie with recognizing His voice but rather with hearing it at all.

Last week, the Holy Spirit whispered something in my heart. I did not openly or rebelliously reject what He was saying, but by the time I figured out He was dispatching me into the fray to do a simple thing, it was too late. The crush I experienced upon realizing how my failure to listen had resulted in a mess was nearly unbearable. I had heard something, but I had not stopped to listen.

Years ago, while rushing along a downtown Chicago street, hurrying to the car in the night after a visit to Buckingham Fountain, an amazing thing happened. I had Nate by the hand, and was walking through the atmosphere of cement and asphalt and exhaust and cars and buses, when he stopped me. He looked up at me with his four-year-old expression and said, “Listen to the crickets, Mommy.” Even when I took the time to stop and listen, it took a minute to hone in on the lovely sound of God’s little creatures and shove out the noise of the city.

It seems to me like that is how it is with the voice of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes you don’t even hear it at all. Sometimes you can pick it out after pushing away the noise of life. What I am shooting for is to live my life more intent on listening for it.

I’d like to think that if my Jeep talked to me and told me not to go where I was going to go, that my eyes would bulge and I would turn around an go home! Even when a donkey beat Balaam up and nearly sat on him and eventually turned his head and spoke, Balaam did not wise up. Perhaps it involves a determined resolve to tune your heart to hear the prompting of the Spirit of God. Perhaps it takes talking less. Perhaps it means running to and fro less. Perhaps, if it’s something you really want in your life, you will hear what He is saying to you even though life is bizarre.

Do you think that perhaps God might have something to say to you but you’ve been just too busy to recognize Him or His voice? Do you hear Him sometimes but ignore His tug? Jesus said that His sheep hear and recognize His voice! Desire, determination and practice!

March 2006