Maybe we’re just not listening

How do we know what the weather will be? Ellie asked as we were driving down a bumpy country road.

The weather people go to college to learn about weather patterns and then they make predictions. So it’s really an educated guess, because we don’t really know exactly what God has in store with the weather, I replied.

She processed through this thought for a minute then replied almost to herself, Maybe He’s telling us and we’re just not listening.

I kept driving, and we settled into silence as her words sunk in.

She’s probably right. Not specifically about the weather, but about God, about how He’s probably communicating with us more than we realize, about how we’re not paying attention enough to hear it.

Greg Boyle in Barking to the Choir says, “When imagining the sacred, we think of church sanctuary instead of living room; chalice instead of cup; ordained male priest instead of, well, ourselves. But lo–which is to say look–right before your eyes, the holy is happening, even if you are hesitant to believe it.”

We think God can speak to us in church, but we never think He can speak to us as we drive down 1000 North heading toward the city for dinner. He can speak to us in the quiet, but of course He can’t speak to us in the loud room full of children and chaos.

But what if He can and He is and we’re just not paying attention? What if we’re just not listening?

I’d say our phones make it hard for us to see.

I’d say our televisions make it hard for us to hear.

I’d say our schedules make it hard for us to notice.

I’d say our relationships make it hard for us to be aware.

If we took the word “luck” out of our vocabulary and replaced it with “God showing off” or “God reminding me He’s caring for me,” we’d start to become more aware of the everyday spots He’s showing up and clamoring for our attention.

Luck says no one is paying attention or in control. Showing off says my Father sees me.

Luck says I don’t matter and this coincidence doesn’t mean anything. He’s caring for me says I matter.

Sometimes the luck-that’s-not-really-luck is just for our joy or thrill too. If you’re a parent, you know how amazing it feels to make your kid smile or laugh. The Father is the same way, taking joy when He fills us with wonder or thrill.

Maybe He’s telling us and we’re just not listening.

Allowing our eyes to be wide and our ears to be open takes practice. We live in a world consumed with distracting us. Our society says do more, talk more, fill every moment with noise and living.

And that’s how we drown out His presence and His voice, when we leave no space for it. Of course He’s telling us things, we’re not here to do this alone, but we think we have to. And if we’re never really listening and looking for Him, are we experiencing everything we’re made to?

It’s easy to talk about sin and its hold on us when it’s pornography, when it’s pride, when it’s addiction or love of money. But the Enemy is sneakier than we could ever imagine; what if his biggest scheme of all is keeping us busy, blind, and deaf? How likely are we to truly understand God’s authority or power or wonder if we aren’t even paying attention enough to realize its extent? The Enemy can easily keep us quiet about something we only vaguely know about and rarely see.

Maybe He’s telling us and we’re just not listening.

I don’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the line, we were told God was pretty black and white. He spoke to us through prophets, but they’re all dead now. He did miracles, but those are all in the Bible. He might move your spirit, but you’ll need to be in church for that.

Little tiny box, meet our God.

God, meet our little tiny box.

Once we got Him in that box, our eyes got used to seeing only what we thought we should see and our ears got used to hearing only what others told us we should hear. But that’s not how God works. It’s not how He works in the Bible stories we read so we can infer that’s not how He works now.

We know God’s character doesn’t change, He is the same today, tomorrow, and forevermore. So if we take that truth and apply it to our lives today, we know He’s still speaking to us through wise men and women, He’s still doing miracles every day, and He’s still talking to us if we listen.

Maybe He’s telling us and we’re just not listening.

If this sounds crazy to you, don’t take my word for it. I’m not that smart, I’m just telling you what has been evident in my life through studying Scripture and pursuing a relationship with Him. I’m not doing anything special or unique. I’m not doing anything not available to everyone else.

“I don’t think the way you think.
    The way you work isn’t the way I work.”
        God’s Decree.
“For as the sky soars high above earth,
    so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
    and the way I think is beyond the way you think.
Just as rain and snow descend from the skies
    and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth,
Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,
    producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,
So will the words that come out of my mouth
    not come back empty-handed.
They’ll do the work I sent them to do,
    they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.
-Isaiah 55:8-11, The Message version

If God’s telling us He doesn’t work the same way we work, why do we keep looking for Him in the same places we’d be? If God’s telling us His thinking is beyond our thinking, why do we keep assuming we know what’s on His mind and what He’ll do?

Maybe He’s telling us and we’re just not listening.

I think listening starts with knowledge. You can’t hear what you aren’t aware of. So we begin listening to His Word, getting to know God’s character and love, and then we see and hear differently. Better. More like Him.

Then, maybe, when He is telling us things, we will be better at listening.