Incline
Thine Ear
My son, attend to my words; incline
thine ear unto my sayings.
Proverbs 4:20 KJV
Janelle pressed the pillow tightly
against her ears in the hopes of shutting out the sirens and street
noises below. Her first night in their new apartment was light-years
from the honeymoon they’d just returned from.
Sleeping soundly, her husband, Jim, was
oblivious to his wife’s plight.
How is that possible?! she
wondered. Is he deaf?!
Sometime around 3:30am exhaustion won
out. She dozed in and out of fitful sleep, never finding complete
rest. When morning finally arrived, Jim was surprised to find Janelle
sitting against the headboard sound asleep. He watched as her body
involuntarily shuddered. After extended observation he realized her
movements coincided with noises emanating from outside.
“Hey,” he spoke softly. Janelle
stirred and opened her eyes. “You okay?” he asked.
“How can you sleep through all that
racket?” she questioned.
“I’m sorry,” Jim responded
sheepishly. “I should have warned you., but it’s been so long
since I’ve heard the street at night I forgot how loud it was when
I first moved here.” Drawing her close, he assured her, “After a
while you’ll learn to tune the noises out. You’ll get used to
it.”
†
It is
possible, even for God-loving Christians, to ‘condition’ the ears
of our heart to silence the world around us to hear the whisper of
the Holy Spirit. We tell ourselves we know what we can handle the
temptation...no problem…it’s okay to watch this…or to allow our
children to do something questionable…and to not respond when God
nudges us about certain things.
When
we don’t want to listen to God’s warnings we simply disregard His
advice and go our own way. Done enough, we harden our heart in that
area of our lives.
God
instructs us to incline/focus the hearing of our hearts to His voice,
not tune Him out, because He knows how easy it is for us to fool
ourselves. Complete surrender to God isn’t easy…but it is
rewarding. It also keeps us out of a lot of unnecessary trouble.
Is
there an area of your heart shut off to God? If so, ask Him to help
you adjust your spiritual hearing.
Prayer
“Help
me, Holy Spirit, to listen for the sound of Your voice in every issue
of my life. Amen.”
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