Spring
2008
The Hearing Heart
Diane Dew
"Be still," He says, "and know that I am God."
Psalms 46:10.
It takes a keen ear and a determined heart to hear the whisper
of God's voice.
The Lord does not require us to do anything, or go anywhere
to meet with Him. Rather, His simple command is for us to
"be still" - to cease from our own efforts and from
all that would distract, and to allow Him to reveal Himself
to us.
There is a sense of hearing beyond the natural capacity.
When Jesus said to His disciples, "Let these sayings
sink down into your ears" (Luke 9:44), He was referring
to the ear of the spirit, in the inner man.
Isaiah "Heard the voice of the Lord ... and (God) said,
Go and tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not;
and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of these
people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and
understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed."
(Isaiah 6:8-10).
Though at the time these words were originally spoken they
fell on deaf ears, it is significant to note that the same
passage of Scripture in which they were recorded was quoted
in every gospel account (1). It was only because Isaiah heard
the voice of God himself that the prophet could deliver such
a word. God speaks through those who have learned to listen.
It is a process.
We learn to discern the voice of God by listening to Him.
The more we hear, the more we spend time in His presence,
the more surely will we be able to recognize when He is speaking.
Hebrews 5:14 says that our spiritual senses are sharpened
"by reason of use." That is, with experience.
In the same way, repeatedly refusing to respond to the call
of the Spirit results in a spiritual condition that leaves
our hearts hardened before Him, calloused, so to speak, and
insensitive to His voice. This grieves the heart of God. (Hebrew
3:7-10).
To maintain an adequate level of spiritual sensitivity, we
must learn to respond without delay to the gentle beckoning
of the Spirit. God requires an immediate response within the
hearts of His people: "Today, when you hear His voice,
harden not your hearts ..." This verse is three times
repeated, for emphasis, in the third and fourth chapters of
Hebrews. "See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh ..."
Hebrews 12:25.
Similarly, Isaiah 55:6 exhorts us: "Seek ye the Lord
while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near."
"Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to
the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should
let them slip" Hebrews 2:1. Jesus continually had to
repeat Himself, because His words fell on deaf ears. At least
eight times in the Gospels we read of Him exhorting the people,
"He that hath ears to hear, let him hear (or, Listen!)."
This same verse is also quoted eight times in the book of
Revelation. Though each of the seven churches of Revelation
was at a different stage in the development of their spiritual
experience, his invitation to them all was the same; "He
that hath an ear, let him hear ..." Revelation 2, 3.
To each of the seven churches He was, in effect, saying,
"There is more." All but one had either settled
down, or fallen away, at one point or another along the path,
and He wanted them to move on. Many in our own day have become
satisfied with the knowledge that they will "someday"
inherit the promise of eternal life. However, that is barely
enough to get them through the "here and now." Jesus
said, "He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him
that sent me, hath (that is, now possesses) everlasting life,
and ... is (already) passed from death unto life."
We must learn to come to know Him with whom we will spend
eternity, if this life is to have any meaning or purpose at
all. Unless we learn to know His voice and fellowship with
Him now, we shall never come to experience the abundant life
of which Jesus spoke (2).
God's greatest complaint in this matter is not with the unregenerate
world, for He does not expect from them the same sort of respect
for His word: they are "uncircumcised in heart and ears"
Acts 7:51. The Lord's deepest concern is for His own people,
those who have the ability to hear, but refuse to listen.
They "have ears to hear, and hear not” (3).
Many have "stopped their ears" and have by choice
turned "away their ears" (4) from hearing the word
of the Lord. Others have become "dull of hearing"
(5); their "heart is waxed gross" (6).
So we see that the famine in Amos 8:11 is "not a famine
of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words
of the Lord." Churches are plentiful; the Word has gone
forth, but the famine or lack is for those who would hear
His voice. God has not stopped speaking; the problem is that
His people have failed to listen. When the message becomes
too demanding ("Forsake all?" "Deny myself?"),
many try to avoid the issue by seeking an escape; any excuse
that will allow them to continue in their own ways. However,
the claim upon our lives remains the same and we cannot find
true, lasting peace apart from His best.
"The Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh
unto his friend." Samuel heard His voice and responded;
"Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth." It was Abraham
whom God called His friend, because He knew he was trusting,
and could be trusted. They two communed together often. Hence,
when God was contemplating the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah,
He first discussed it with His friend Abraham. "Surely
the Lord God will do nothing except He revealeth His secret
unto His servants the prophets."
Now "I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth
not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends: for
all things that I have heard of My Father, I have made known
unto you." Jesus said, "God is no respecter of persons."
He speaks to those who will listen (7).
"He that (1) hath an ear, (2) let him hear ..."
Two very significant implications are revealed in this Scripture.
First, to single out "he that hath" implies that
some did not have. All do not hear, nor do all have the desire
to hear. Many are content in the performance of their religious
pageantry (mere "empty show") and because of a lack
of interest and commitment are not even aware that there is
anything better than what they have seen. To them God has
nothing to say.
However, to those who will hear, He speaks imperatively;
"Let him hear!" It is a command. This implies that
even of those who could hear, who have the capacity within
them ("that hath an ear"), some do not. The response
is a matter of choice, an act of the will (8). It is one thing
to have an ability or even the knowledge of something, but
quite another to put it into practice. Many can recite the
Scriptures from memory (even cultists; or Satan himself!);
but not all will allow the working of the Holy Spirit to make
the application of those truths real in their lives.
In the time of Moses, Scripture says, the people of God did
not want to hear from the Lord Himself, because they feared
they would then be held personally accountable to both hear
and do it (Exodus 15:26; Leviticus 26:14). They were content
to hear from God through His prophet, Moses (Exodus 20:19;
Deuteronomy 5:2; 18:16). Oh, let us never be satisfied with
the secondhand revelation of any man, but ever seek the Face
of God for ourselves.
It is the Lord's intent to awaken "them that are at
ease in Zion," to arouse from slumber those whose relationship
with Him has become spiritually stagnant (9). Consider the
sense of urgency that is expressed in Jeremiah 22:29, where
we hear the mighty voice of our Creator shouting to attract
the attention of His spiritually deaf creation: "O earth!
Earth: EARTH! HEAR the word of the Lord!"
In Revelation 3:20 we are given the picture of Jesus standing
outside the doors of His own church, seeking entrance, waiting
for someone to hear His voice and open the door. Although
many have used this scripture with reference to the unbeliever
at salvation, it was written to believers. The Lord continually
knocks at the door of our heart, daily seeking entrance into
new areas of commitment and surrender. He desires to be welcomed
by waiting hearts.
It is this same picture that we are given in the Song of
Songs 5:2-3. Here the attitude and response of the Shunamite,
typifying the church, are revealed: "I sleep but my heart
waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying,
Open to me ... I have put off my coat; how shall I put it
on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?"
We must beware lest our hearts be overcome by an attitude
of complacency and spiritual laziness. The Lord does not always
call at a convenient time, and unless we keep ourselves "watching"
and ready, ever listening for His voice, we shall miss out.
Moreover, so long as we consider His calling an inconvenience,
all we can meet with will be disappointment; "I (later)
rose up to open to my Beloved ... but my Beloved had withdrawn
Himself, and was gone: my soul failed when He spake; I sought
Him, but I could not find Him; I called Him, but He gave no
answer" Song of Songs 5:5-6.
How can we better hear God's voice? As it is in the natural,
Paul says, so it is in the spiritual. When we have trouble
hearing, we can (1) get closer to the speaker; or (2) close
out the distracting sounds or voices which interfere or compete
for our attention. In other words, the problem often is not
hearing, or even listening, but discerning His voice.
"The Lord God ... wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.
The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious,
neither turned away back" Isaiah 50:4-5.
Jesus spoke in parables to the multitudes, but to His own
He communicated the reality of those truths (Luke 8:10). "What
I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye
hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops."
"... many prophets and righteous men have desired ...
to hear those things which ye hear and have not ..."
Matthew 13:16-17. "But blessed are your eyes, for they
see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you,
that many prophets and righteous men have desired ... to hear
those things which ye hear and have not ..." "My
sheep hear My voice..." John 10.
Only those whose hearts have been tuned to hear the call
of the Spirit can hear the whisper of His voice, the secrets
of His kingdom. Only those who have attained an appreciation
of the Truth will know to grasp the hidden treasures of darkness
and bring them to light (Isaiah 45:3). With loving anticipation
and determination of heart will they respond to the call of
the Spirit. And the secrets of many generations shall unfold
before their eyes as they behold the King in His beauty!
Footnotes:
1 Matt 13:13-15; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10; John 12:40
2 John 5:24; 10:3; 10:14; 10:10
3 Jer 5:21; Ezek. 12:2; Mark 8:18; 2 Tim 4:4; Rom 11:8; Heb
5:11
4 Acts 7:57
5 Matt 13:15; Heb 5:11
6 Acts 28:27
7 Exodus 33:11; 1 Sam 3:9; Isa 41:8; Gen 18:17-19
8 Acts 7:57; Rom 11:8; 2 Tim 4:4
9 Amos 6:1; Jer 48:11; Zeph 1:12
Copyright 1977, Diane S. Dew