Thought-Are we to busy to hear God’s answers?
Scripture- “The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”– 1 Samuel 3:10
Insight- We are all guilty of it! We come to God with a long laundry list of requests that we lay at His feet and then we hurry off to our next thought, appointment or assignment. We then get flustered if the answers we want don’t come in our expected time frame, and actually become angry with God, treating Him like He is some sort of Cosmic Vending Machine who exists only to dispense answers to our wishes on command. How insidious and childish of us! Do we ever even pause to take a breath and clear our minds and schedules so we can hear from God? Prayer, like any other form of communication, doesn’t function well when it is one-sided. Try that with your spouse or co-worker or anyone in your life and see how that goes. Prayer consists of the three elements required for it to function optimally: Reading of Scripture, faithful prayer and listening for God’s response. Are you finding time to listen? Unplugging from the grid? Are you pausing long enough to hear His answers? James 1:19 instructs us in this area: “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,” This is a challenge for everyone in the 21st century- we are too distracted to hear God’s answers. Like Samuel in the scripture above from 1 Samuel 3:10, our posture towards God after we have prayed should be” “Speak, for your servant is listening.” That could be the problem. Try to take more time to listen, or you might miss the answer He has already provided to your prayer requests. We are all great and telling people how we feel, but most of us are lacking in being quick to listen, especially myself. This is a great reminder to me that listening is maybe the most important part of praying. Most of us get an “F” in this area. Let’s try to ruthlessly eliminate distractions this week so we can hear God’s voice.
Prayer: Father God, thank you for your willingness and eagerness to communicate with us, through your written word, listening to our prayers and speaking to us in your still, small voice that moves in our soul. Help us to find enough time and space to listen for your answers. We can all use a little more down time. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!
0 Comments