Are you listening?

Isaiah 29:9-14

To whom will he teach knowledge, 

and to whom will he explain the message? 

  Those who are weaned from the milk, 

those taken from the breast? 

 10  For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, 

line upon line, line upon line, 

here a little, there a little.

And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12 And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.” 

And the Lord said: 

  “Because this people draw near with their mouth 

and honor me with their lips, 

while their hearts are far from me, 

  and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, 

 14  therefore, behold, I will again 

do wonderful things with this people, 

with wonder upon wonder; 

and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, 

and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.” 

Who listens to God? 

Can babies understand who He is? (V9-10)

Do those who can read, read the Bible? (V11)

Do those who can't read, gain knowledge of God? (V12)

Do those who worship God, and go to church actually listen to Him?

I think that list, probably covers everyone! 

So, who does actually, actively, listens to God?

I have learned that listening is not a passive thing, but an action. You have to put in effort and concentrate in order to listen. 

We can read without it going in, sing a song without much thought, but to listen, we have to engage. 

It's sometimes hard enough listening to people, but how do we listen to God? 

Well, this passage gives us some clues: read the Bible, be prepared to be taught, talk to Him and praise Him. We have to put in the effort and the time if we truly want to hear what God wants to say. That is if we really want to hear what He's saying rather than what we hope He is saying. 

When we do hear God speak, it doesn't always come in a booming voice, or with a blinding light, but it might be a sense or thought that you wouldn't normally have. Or something seems to jump out at you when you're reading. It may be that the same theme keeps cropping up. I encourage you to explore it, pray about it and see if anything different happens if you listen. 

What will you lose if you give it a go?