Listening is a skill that has to be developed; James reminds us that we should be slow to speak and quick to listen (Js 1:17), and someone has commented that we have two ears but only one mouth, so we should listen twice as much as we speak! Listening well means that we have to slow down and give our full attention to something or someone.
These days, we seem to be obsessed with multi-tasking. One of the banes of my life is ‘background music’ – music that is there in shops, restaurants, homes but is never listened to properly. We fail to listen properly to it and rob ourselves enormously by trying to do too many things at once. Listening can’t be done half-heartedly or while juggling a thousand other tasks. For us to listen well means to slow down, stop preparing our responses before we’ve heard someone out and stop being in such a hurry!
Listening to people takes time and effort, and the same is true of listening to God. I am challenged by Michael Card’s question: ‘Is the reason we’re not still to hear You speak/ Because we don’t believe You will?’ (‘In Stillness And Simplicity’) Take the time out to listen for God’s still small voice today. You might be surprised what He says.