Be Still To Hear
In his book Directions, author James Hamilton shares this insight about listening to God:
Before refrigerators, people used icehouses to preserve their food. Icehouses had thick walls, no windows and a tightly fitted door. In winter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the icehouses and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the summer.
One man lost a valuable watch while working in an icehouse. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn't find it. His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile. A small boy who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the icehouse during the noon hour and soon emerged with the watch.
Amazed, the men asked him how he found it.
"I closed the door," the boy replied, "lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking."
Often the question is not whether God is speaking, but whether we are still enough and quiet enough to hear. Yes, Jesus assures us that our heavenly Father always listens to us, but do we really listen to Him? Do we follow the instructions of Psalm 46:10, "Be still, and know that I am God?"
Always A Reason To Be Thankful
A cowboy was riding his stallion down a dirt road when a police officer flashed his lights and pulled him over. He said, "Sir, I have been trying to pull you over for a mile. Do you know that your wife fell off the horse, a mile down the road?" The cowboy smiled and replied, "Thank God, I thought for a moment that I had become deaf."
In every season of life, we can find a reason to be thankful!
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).
Additional Application:
If you're having a difficult time hearing God's voice, make sure you haven't left Him somewhere back down the road!
"The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful" (Matthew 13:22).
Listening For Mosquito Tones
Light & Life Magazine asks:
Have you heard about the cell phone ringtone that junior high and high school kids are using to keep teachers from discovering that they are using their cell phones in school? The pitch of this ringtone, called the "mosquito tone," is too high for people over 25 to hear. So the kids can still send and receive text messages during class without the teacher knowing.
The mosquito tone was first developed in Great Britain to irritate teenagers who were loitering around convenience stores and keeping customers away by their loud and obnoxious behavior…Some kid simply figured out how to use that sound as his cell phone's ringtone and—voilà—kids are downloading it by the millions.
* Follow the "Link to Source" above for a full Wikipedia article and an audio recording. It might be entertaining to play it and see how many in your congregation can hear the sound. It will add to the illustration when only the youth can hear it.
Just as our ability to detect the sounds of high frequencies deteriorates as we get older, our sensitivity to spiritual frequencies also fade. That's why Jesus cautioned that those who would come to Him must come like little children. It is the humility and innocence of a child that makes it possible for us to hear the voice of God. So, we must either come to God early in life when we are better able to hear His voice, or become like little children so we can hear it.
"He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:2-4).