Fall 1973
Hearing Heart
Otis Shelton
Teacher Pinecrest Retreats

I would like to share with you a few thoughts the Lord has made real from His Word. Let us turn to

I Kings 3:7-10. We find here that David, king of Israel, has just died, and the burden of responsibility has been placed on the shoulders of Solomon, David’s son and heir to the throne.

We will begin by listening in on the prayer of Solomon: “And now, O Lord, my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: (means: I cannot speak the language of the Father.) I know not how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.”

I was reading this in the American Standard Bible and saw in the margin that the literal meaning of “understanding heart” is a HEARING HEART. Solomon had asked for a heart to hear God for himself. Solomon knew that he must have this ability to hear from God directly in order to judge rightly and to guide the people in the way they should go. In response to his prayer, God said, “Behold, I have given you a wise and hearing heart.” This ability to hear was created within Solomon by the Lord. We read in Proverbs 20:12, “the hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them.” Solomon recognized his need to be in the place where God could freely communicate with him and he received this enabling due to having earnestly sought God for that very thing. “We have not because we ask not.” There is still no substitute for earnest praying in the Spirit. Elijah prayed earnestly and by that earnestness of spirit, the heavens were closed and opened at his word.

God is speaking to His body of our need of waiting upon the Lord to receive from Him “the word in season,” even the key that will unlock the flow of God among the people where God has placed us. With that thought, we turn to Isaiah 50:4-5. “The Lord hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.” The word “learned” in this passage means “disciple” or “disciplined one.” In these days we are coming more and more under the discipline of the Holy Spirit. He is teaching us obedience to the Spirit’s promptings. Let us not fail to move with God when He speaks.

We are being led in paths we have never walked before, and I am convinced that the secret of our effectiveness in this new walk lies in our waiting upon God to hear the word from His mouth and then being obedient to move on the basis of that word. His promise is: “I have given you a wise and understanding heart.” Therefore, I can say, “Thou wilt guide me in obtaining Life.” Amen!