What are You Expecting to Hear from God?
Other Posts in this Series
- Listen and Love
- What if God is Silent?
- What are You Expecting to Hear from God?
- How Do I Know God’s Voice When I Hear It?
- How Do I Listen with All This Noise?
- Other Perspectives on Listening to God
Picture two people in love leaning toward one another across a restaurant table. They laugh together and clasp hands. They lean closer and whisper to one another. What are they saying? Sharing their love perhaps? Talking of their future? Revealing important parts of their lives that few others ever hear?
Picture also a father and son on a camping trip. They spend the day fishing, clean their fish together, build a fire and cook their meal. Afterwards they sit around the campfire talking, sharing an important moment. What do these two talk about during the day? Perhaps the father tells his son how proud he is of the way he helped build the fire. Then in the quiet of the evening with just the crackling of the fire they talk about what is important to them–the son tells his father about his dreams. The father encourages those dreams and tells his son of his love.
The point of these two scenarios is that when two people are in relationship their conversation covers a large range of topics. The two share intimate details of their lives, they encourage one another, and they tell each other of their love.
Our relationship with God is similar. God is our Divine Parent who cares deeply for us just as we care deeply for him. In the course of our relationship with God, God says many things to us. God instructs us. God shares his love for us. God encourages us. God chastises us. God shares the divine desire for our lives.
Why is it, then, that so much of our listening to God is focused solely on getting instruction or trying to hear God’s will. We constantly want God to tell us what to do and how to live our life. We want God to give us answers to our problems and tell us how to handle difficult situations. As a result, all we are prepared to hear from God is God’s instruction to us or what changes we need to make in our lives.
When this becomes the focus of our listening, we miss some of the most beautiful moments of the God/human relationship. We don’t hear God tell us of his love or how proud God is of us for walking in the ways of righteousness. We fail to hear the words of encouragement and the revelations of God’s nature.
Most of the time God doesn’t want to tell us what to do or what we need to change in our lives. Dallas Willard puts it this way in his book, Hearing God.
The beloved, who both loves and is loved, does not want to order the lover about; instead the beloved desires that the lover understand what is needed so that no orders are necessary. . . . He does not delight in having to always explain what his will is; he enjoys it when we understand and act upon his will. (p. 32)
Instead of constantly telling us what to do and how to live our lives, God wants to tell us of his love. God wants to lean toward us and reveal his character in ways that others may not be privy. God wants to say thank you to us for our obedience and justice. One of the ways we return God’s love is to listen to all that God wants to tell us. Instead of always listening for God’s orders, let’s live what we already know to be God’s will. Then, let’s open our ears to everything else God wants to say to us.
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