I’ve always said I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I think I’m going to quit professing that over myself because it seems to be coming true more often. I think I’m going to start saying “my word girl, you’re smart!” But, it took me a while to really understand what the message was for our new Bible Study semester that begins this Wednesday.

Now, I’m certain if you knew the title was “He Who Has Ears to Hear Let Him Hear.” You would think it was pretty clear. But it wasn’t until the other day that the message for me was so evident. That this is a year God wants me to “listen”. And I realized that was the real message in this new study.

I’ve always said, “God is always speaking.” Yet, I run into my other thought that tells me, “There are some times when God is silent.” And those seasons often cause us to press into Him, because we become desperate to hear Him. But maybe both can co-exist. Because I believe often God’s loudest words can be His silence. The question is what is our heart really hearing?

So many times we default to the mentality that He has left us, abandoned us, believe it proves the belief that He didn’t really care about us anyway. But what if His silence was His effort to woo us. To invite us into His story. We love creating our story and then begging Him to figure out how to get into the middle of it. But so seldom do we press in asking Him what is He writing and how can we get in the middle of it.

The message for me this season of my life is to be a better listener. Really hear people. Their hearts, their stories, what their really saying. Not simply listen with ears that have already predetermined my answers. But listening to others while I’m listening to my father. Asking Him, “Lord, what would you have me say to her to him? What is your heart for them? Not what is my opinion.”

So often our responses come manufactured and seemingly laced with our prejudices because they are formulated by only our experiences. But really listening can take our experiences and allow them to be shaped by our Father’s love and wisdom and discernment and then give the response He would desire. Every heart longs to be heard…truly heard. Every person longs to be seen…truly seen. And very often we see people the most when we listen. Are you? Are you listening?