DAILY BYTEYesterday, I mentioned that the first 11 chapters of the Bible describe the effect of the Fall, a disintegration of relationships at all levels. This culminates in the story of the Tower of Babel which describes the dispersal of a community because they lost the ability to truly listen to one another.
Interestingly enough, straight after these 11 chapters is the call of Abram (Genesis 12). This is a call from God that Abram must listen to with the promise that his obedience will bless many people besides himself. Scripture shows us how God immediately begins a process of reconnecting people with himself and one another.
As the Biblical story progresses from here, we learn that the great hero’s of the faith – women and men – had stories marked not by any individual brilliance or talent, but by a willingness to become really good listeners. To hear God and to be obedient, and through that obedient listening their lives changed their worlds.
Because to listen, to truly hear, is one of the greatest gifts we can learn to give others.
I learnt this from a NG Kerk Dominee (minister) I met once. I remember him telling me that his call to ministry was wrapped up in his call to be a listener.
“Everyone wants to speak,” he would say, “but the most important thing God wants me to do with my life is to be a listener.”
The longer I journey in life, the more I think he was correct, and that he shaped and formed his life around a wonderful God-truth. And the longer I have been involved in ministry, the more I am convinced of the truth of the message of the Tower of Babel: that there is so much pain and heart ache in the world because we don’t truly listen to each other.
People disperse from one another and drift apart because of it. Relationships are broken, marriages break down, children and parents are estranged, Christians fight among themselves, countries go to war, humanity suffers and groans because we become too wrapped up in ourselves to hear the cry of others.
You may not feel very gifted or talented, you may not even believe God could use you in any great way, but let me assure you that if you strive to learn to listen to others and to God, then you will be pleasantly surprised to find that you will make a profound difference in this world.
This is why one of the greatest gifts we can learn to give each other is that of simple listening. To listen not only with our ears but our hearts and souls as well. This is what will build, sustain and draw people together.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Holy and Loving Lord, help me to offer to others the gift of listening. Teach me to listen to my family, friends, acquaintances and even my enemies with my ears and my heart. Bless this gift of listening so that it will serve to draw people together. Amen.
FOCUS READING
James 1:19 NRSV
You must understand this, my beloved, let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger, for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness.
