FROM YOUR LIPS TO GOD'S EARS

 

Remember days of yore, when you were a kid sitting around the campfire, whispering phrases in each other’s ears just to hear what kind of gobbledy-gook the sentence turned into at the end? Fun, wasn’t it?

Now, transfer this to adulthood, only there’s not 25 kids, but just you and another person trying to have a conversation. And it seems that when the words leave your lips, they take on a whole different shape and meaning by the time they enter the other person's ears, and confusion runs rampant, and you wonder why this person is so rude and annoying and insensitive!

Sometimes there may be legitimate reasons. I remember an eon ago, being a kid with teensy ability to stay focused. Mom would do her best to explain to me why baking toys in the oven was a bad idea. I heard only the first few words, because I was pondering whether or not a certain doll would fit down the toilet. I just wasn’t that interested in being obedient to mom, because I could only focus on having more fun.

Now that my parents are elderly, it’s apparent that words can misfire because of a genuine inability to hear well. Although occasionally, I detect “selective” hearing between them. One of them deliberately refuses to hear what’s being said because it conflicts with personal desire. I now see that life can certainly be a “circle” of confusion and misspent words.

So, it’s one thing to audibly hear words, and quite another to comprehend, to take the words into the mind and heart, to want to know what the speaker intends, to follow through, and to fellowship. And now I’m wondering to myself -- how do I hear His words?

What if I reverse the saying “from my lips to God’s ears” (meaning the speaker hopes that God hears and will answer) and consider it from His point of view, “from God’s lips to my ears.” If He’s speaking to me from His Word, and I’m not really hearing Him, is it because I’m preoccupied with the worldly “lust of the flesh and the eyes” (1 John 2:16)? Or because I’m choosing not to be obedient because His will conflicts with mine? Or because I’m listening to everyone else’s ideas instead of His divine wisdom?

My loving Father, please forgive me for annoying and grieving You by my rudeness and insensitivity. May I never, for even a minute, be like the people You warned through the prophet who “stopped their ears from hearing” (Zechariah 7:11), or turn my “ears away from the truth” (2 Timothy 4:4) in favor of a myth, or hear my Jesus’ commands and have no desire to be obedient (Matthew 7:26). You told the disciples to listen to Your Son (Matthew 17:5). You don’t mumble, Your words are very clear. I have no genuine excuses for hearing “yakkity-yak” noises from Scripture. You want me to know Your heart’s desire for me, and for me to have a joyful obedience to, and fellowship with You in return. I’m so thankful for Your continuing patience, truth, and wisdom, even in the midst of my “selective” hearing.