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Developing good listening skills are essential for our success—success in business, success in our relationships, and success in learning and growing.
For years I’ve been consciously working at becoming a better listener because I’m not naturally a good listener—I’m a talker! But by putting some simple disciplines in place, I’m a better listener today than I used to be. I try not to interrupt, complete the other person’s sentences, or let my mind wander when I’m supposed to be listening. I try to give good eye contact and screen out distractions when I listen. These are simple things we all can do to become better listeners, and we will reap wonderful benefits from it. People love people who listen.
But how about listening to God? Do you ever think about what you need to do to hear God’s voice? If you feel like, “God, I can’t hear you,” maybe it’s because you haven’t learned how to listen to God. In Psalm 81:13-14 we read this:
If my people would only listen to me, if Israel would only follow my ways, how quickly I would subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!
In Psalm 85:8 the Psalmist says the following:
I will listen to what God the Lord says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants—but let them not turn to folly.
So, listening to God is first of all a choice we make: “I will listen to what God the Lord says.” He doesn’t usually speak to us until we have ears to hear. But how does God speak to us?
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. Hebrews 1:1-2
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Mostly God speaks to us through the written Word. That means we have to make time in our lives to read the Word for the sole purpose of hearing God speak to us personally. Sometimes I find myself reading the Bible just because I’m supposed to. That doesn’t do much good. But if we read it for the sole purpose of hearing God speak to us, God will speak to us through his Word.