“Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.”
Job 13:17
Oh, how we can identify ourselves with Job, his three friends, and later Elihu throughout the entirety of this great book of the Bible. At various times in our lives, we can identify with Job when we just need someone to talk to and to lend a listening ear to what is on our minds. At other times the roles are reversed when we become the listening ears as Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar where we only react through the positions of personal experience, religious tradition, or even by our merit. We may even take the stand of Elihu and speak out of youthful ignorance that even the Lord Himself will not recognize. These gentlemen were not taking the mind of the Lord in their understanding and the ears of the Lord in their hearing of what Job was saying. We must ask ourselves, how often are we hearing to quickly react and not listening to absorb?
When we lend a listening ear to a dear brother or sister in need, our natural tendency is to make their problem about ourselves or make a shallow attempt to solve it to boost our own ego. We are quick to react in how it relates to our life, how it affects us, and not absorb what they are wishing to confide in us with. Like the friends of Job, we tend to only listen to react and judge one another based off the natural, outward circumstances without taking into consideration what the Lord is performing in the supernatural working of His Spirit. We rarely ever take the time to sit and listen to gain the full story. Instead, we only react to the pieces we want to hear. Would we ever look at one piece of a jigsaw puzzle scattered across the table and say we have a complete picture? I think not!!
In these moments it is imperative we remember and emulate the Lord Jesus Christ as the Great Intercessor. The Lord listens and absorbs the desperate pleas of His chosen people and makes them His very own. In the appointed time and in the most glorious way, He will move and respond. In these times leading up to this moment, we believe the Lord has gone silent and is not hearing a single word we speak unto Him. This could not be further from the truth. Jesus Christ listens and absorbs our needs and situations upon Himself to bring forth the mighty Will of God in our lives as we present to Him all the pieces of our broken puzzle. It does not matter how scattered our thoughts are or how confused we may feel in the process. It is Jesus who stands still with the calmest and most attentive ears taking it all in before stretching His outstretched arm to move upon us and bring forth deliverance. All along the way He will teach us the lessons of trust and dependence upon Him for every need in our life.
“Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.”
Romans 15:1-2
Jesus Christ speaks to us throughout the Word of God, “He that hath an ear let him hear.” This should tell us we need to spend more time listening and not always reacting. This command is for us all as the Lord knows we certainly talk way too much when we should be listening. Next time we are in the company of a neighbor in need wishing to just simply talk, let us have the mind and ears of Christ to hear and absorb that which our brother and sister is pouring out unto us about. When we hear as Christ, we can bring their need before the Lord in prayer with the greatest of love and concern so we may, as Christ, stand in the gap with them. Through the Holy Spirit, the power and wisdom of God can come over us and speak the Word of the Lord to spring forth the waters of life from our lips to the heart and mind of our dear friend in need. When we stop hearing to react by our own wisdom, knowledge, and experience we allow the Lord to have His Way through us. Then and only then can we hear, absorb, and resolve as a loving Disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
