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One
of my all time favorite preachers is Peter Lord. He used
a great illustration in a series entitled, "How to Hear God Speak."
In the illustration, he said that one night he was entertaining some
people in his home and one of the guests was a graduate student in entomology.
After dinner, Peter stepped out onto
his patio and found the student had gone out there as well. It was late
evening and they stood quietly at first and looked up at myriads
of stars. There was a beautiful stillness except for the usual night sounds
from frogs and insects. His guest told Peter that
no longer than he had been out there on the patio, he had already identified
more than 12 different types of crickets. Peter
was amazed. He was like me: a cricket is a cricket. But this young student
had been taught and had his ears trained todistinguish
the subtleties of different varieties of crickets. That kind of discernment
took a lot of study and a disciplined and well-trained ear.
We can train our ears to hear God's voice, whether it
be in a still small voice,
or through a child, or through a preacher, or a writer, or however God wants
to speak to us. The way we do this
is by regularly meditating on his Word, and not with just a "get-by"
kind of intake either. We have to make it a priority to get our
"tanks" filled up. Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear,
let him hear" (Luke
8:8). This is how we develop ears to hear.
Suppose my husband calls me on the telephone while he
is away on business.
I have heard his voice so many times that I instantly know it is him. Then,
suppose it was not my husband, but
someone who had learned to imitate his voice. That might fool even me, except
there is another way I could determine if it really was
my husband. That would be the content of his conversation. I know what he
talks about. I know his interests. And
I would know if it was not him because the voice on the phone wouldn't converse
in the same manner as my husband.
I know his heart and mind and therefore, I would quickly know if it was
an impostor.
"Make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your
heart to understanding;
for if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding, if you
seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden
treasures, then you will discern the fear of the Lord, and discover the
knowledge of God" (Proverbs
2:3-5).
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