If you aren’t hearing a personal word from the Lord, it isn’t because He’s not talking.  It’s because you aren’t listening.

Call to me and I will answer you and I will tell you great and unsearchable things which you do not know.                                             Jeremiah 33:3

I’ve talked about the suitcases before–you can’t pick up the heavy ones until you’ve worked your way through the lighter ones first.  Sometimes in our angst to see progress, in our New Year’s resolution to be more ‘godly’ or grounded or religious, we set out to do it our way on our terms.  We have a reading plan, we set aside a certain part of the day for reading and prayer.  We do this for a few weeks maybe.  Then what happens?  We usually quit or back down a bit.  You want to know why I think this is?  Because if we put in weeks of our lives doing something ‘for the Lord,’ we start looking for the payoff.  And when it doesn’t come, we throw in the towel.

Don’t spend your days watching for the delivery boy of your personal revelation! Don’t sit in angst awaiting that targeted word for your day and your situation. Don’t nail Him down to the Word you want to hear, commit your time to hearing the Word He’s already delivered!  If you want to know what to do about a job, about a kid problem, about a life situation, and you plead with the Lord to ‘tell’ you what to do, you may get pretty frustrated if and when you realize that He’s not singing your tune.  He may not write the answer to your question in the night sky.  He may not have a stranger come up and deliver the answer to you in the grocery store (He may!  I’ve seen it happen! But the odds aren’t on your side!)

If you are not hearing what He’s already said, He may just be waiting for you to catch up.  He may be wishing desperately that you would pick up that first suitcase and start making some progress because He’s got some words for you!

Hearing from the Lord is not a condition of the body–it doesn’t require a pew or kneeling board, it doesn’t even require isolation or silence–it is a condition of the soul.  If you do not foster a soul that HEARS what the Lord is saying, you will never hear what the Lord is saying to you personally.

Don’t give up that resolution to draw nearer this year!  Don’t stop trying to hear from Him!  Don’t blame Him for the silence!  Start hearing what He said long ago, not just listening to His Word, but HEARING it!  Hearing involves concession. Listening concedes only to the fact that words were spoken.  Hearing concedes to their command.  Hearing involves action.  Hearing says yes to the parts you like and the parts you wish you could un-hear.  Listening is noncommittal.  Hearing is all in.

Pick up that first suitcase–hear the Word God has already delivered to us all! Then build those muscles over the second suitcase–take the stories and the inferences of God’s Word and then logically apply them to your life and situation. Progress to the life of those chosen to HEAR from the Lord!  Move to the third suitcase–hearing a word spoken directly to you in your situation, in your day, in your life, for your call, and in accordance with His Word.

So many of us want desperately to hear what God has to say about the course of our lives and the decisions we would do well to make.  But we get frustrated with God because we ask and we don’t hear Him answering.

It isn’t because He isn’t talking.  It’s because we aren’t listening.

Remember the parable of the talents?  If you take that talent of His written Word and you sit it on your dresser, hide it in the ground, whatever, will God reward you with more talents, aka Words?

The story says no.  The story says that when you don’t regard well the talent you’ve already been given, you won’t be getting any new ones.

Treasure God’s Word and heed it.  Don’t just read it, dive into it and seek to apply to your day, not just the big picture of your life, but the mundane moments of your day.  Build up a reservoir of truth today that will carry you through the days that are dry and dreary.  Get to know the God of Israel so intricately that you can easily discern when a word doesn’t coincide with His ways.  Build your spiritual muscles!  Tune your ears and turn your hearts.  Don’t wait for life conditions to predicate obedience, let contrition of the soul dictate concession to His will!