The Hearing Ear

by G. Jarvie, Glasgow | Category: The Hearing Ear | Aug 1968

"I will hear what God the LORD will speak: For He will speak peace unto His people, and to His saints" (Psalm 85.8).

Every believer has at some time heard the voice of the Lord. We heard it when we were saved, and by faith in His word we were born again. But it may be that since then we have seldom felt that the Lord has spoken to our souls, and our spiritual experience may seem dull. It is not easy to hear the voice of the Lord speaking to us. If we doubt that, we need only ask ourselves, when last did we hear Rim speaking "in accents clear and still?" It seems easy for us to develop a kind of spiritual deafness, an inability to hear the Lord speaking with assurance to our souls. For this there may be several reasons. Let us think of some of them.

There are so many voices in the world, and all are claiming that we listen to them. We know them. There are the voices of our friends, our businesses, our books, our magazines, and maybe our radio. Most of them are right and proper, and they are all there, claiming our attention. Then by nature we find it easier to speak than to listen. It is not easy for us to listen for the still small voice of God's Spirit. Then also we may have so many plans and purposes in our minds, that when God is speaking to us, we just do not hear, or we do not understand. We may be so full with our own thoughts: it was evidently so with the disciples on several occasions when the Master spoke to them (Luke 9.45,46). We cannot condemn them, for we so often see the same trait in ourselves.

The result of this kind of spiritual deafness can be a leanness in our souls, so that, when we go out to teach or to preach we find that we have only our own meagre thoughts to give, and our hearers go away hungry. They come for the bread of life, but they get little. We do not live by bread only, but God's word; not merely God's word read to us in our ears, but God's word heard in our hearts, so that we can say, the Lord has spoken to us indeed.

What can we do, so that we may hear God speaking to us? There are several things that we must do. We must resolve to hear Him. We must take time for quiet meditation on the word. We must not allow the many voices around us to monopolize our attention. We must have our times of withdrawing. We must humble ourselves before our God, asking Rim to speak to us by His Spirit from His word. Let us remember what David said in Psalm 139.23,24.

Let us consider some of those who have heard the voice of the Lord, and let us note its effects on them. Firstly, we think of young Samuel, in the quietness of the night, when the Lord called him by name, and he answered, "Speak, for Thy servant heareth". He became God's prophet to the people because he heard the voice of God. This is a very important lesson to those of us who would preach or teach the word of the Lord. We must first of all hear the Lord speaking to us. This is the most important part of preaching. Then we think of David, the sweet Psalmist of Israel, who wrote so many psalms that have cheered countless millions. Many of them are sung today world-wide. He was able to write thus because his soul waited only on God (Psalm 62.1). He was silent unto God. We think also of his son Solomon, who, when he was young, asked the Lord for an understanding (that is a hearing) heart, and it was granted to him (1 Kings 3.9).

Greater than all these is the Lord Himself, of whom Isaiah wrote, "He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth Mine ear to hear" (50.4). He Himself said, "The word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me" (John 14.24). When they heard Him speak, they said, "Never man so spake". When He was speaking to the people He often said, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" (Luke 8.8). Well He knew that though all of them had ears, only a few of them had ears to hear.

We are asked to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. Not in our memory merely (although that is good), but in our hearts, by hearing the voice of the Lord speaking to our own souls in quietness. How valuable this spiritual hearing is! What a lot we miss if we are spiritually deaf, if perhaps the din of many voices in the world, or the fever of our own desires possesses us, and the Master's still small voice is not heard! We may rush ahead with our work and our plans, and even with our preaching, trying to keep up with all around us, and yet, because we have not heard His voice speaking to our souls, we may be without the sweetness of His presence. This is an ever present possibility with us all. It is a very real cause of spiritual poverty in many lives. Let us listen quietly to hear Him saying, "If any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3.20). What is all our work, and all our preaching, if He is not at home with us? It is nothing.

Let us resolve, from this day, that the first thing in our lives will be to hear the voice of the Lord our God speaking to us, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints. This is the pathway to reviving and blessing.

G. Jarvie, Glasgow | Aug 1968
The Hearing Ear