Hearing Versus Listening

When you come to a service like this or attend a Bible study class, do you just hear what is said or do you listen? Is there a difference?

For most of us listening is our most frequently used communication skill. Listening is a very important part of communication. One study points out that upwards of 70-80% of our time can be consumed with some type of communication. 45% of that time involves listening.

That means that on any given day, we absorb a bunch of words. We listen to opinions from our friends and family. You might watch your favorite television show or listen to a radio talk show host. You might subscribe to a particular podcast. Or listen to audio books. Regardless of the platform, it is likely that you, like most of us, listen to a volume of information from multiple sources.

But what are we really hearing in the middle of all of our listening? God wants us to do more than just hear a collection of words. We are also to hear and internalize His Word. Just like we would record a favorite television show or subscribe to a particular podcast, God wants us to regularly and purposefully hear His Word that is faithfully taught.

Today we are going back to the OT days of Nehemiah to see how the people of that day listened or just heard God's Word. God has brought us here today, not just to hear a sermon, but to listen as God speaks to our heart. Prayer.

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God chose the nation of Israel to be His "set apart" people before all other nations. But the Israelites had an up and down relationship with God through the years. They enjoyed the blessings of obedience and they suffered punishment from their disobedience. When the people of Israel would disobey God, they suffered from invading armies that would come in and take over. That is how the people of Israel ended up in Babylonian captivity. They would hear God's Word, but they would not listen.

So how does God want us to accomplish this listening? First, you might notice that God's people took in His Word with other people. A little background first. The Israelites had been in captivity for 70 years and now they had returned to Jerusalem, and they rebuilt the temple and the city walls around it. When they completed building all of this:

Nehemiah 8:1 – “all the people gathered together at the square in front of the Water Gate. They asked the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had given Israel.”

The Israelites were desperate to hear God's Word again. And they were very intentional in putting themselves in a position to listen to it.

We take in volumes of information on a daily basis. Some of that information comes to us by chance and others come to us intentionally. When it comes to God's Word, we need to intentionally read and be taught. The Israelites give us an excellent example in how to put ourselves in a position to hear God's Word. They were intentionally together.

In our American culture, we are more individualistic. Even in the Christian community, it can be over-emphasized the personal aspect of our relationship with

God. That doesn't mean that we Christians don't enjoy or should not cultivate a personal relationship with God. Yes, God saves us individually. And He calls us personally to grow in our faith. But our faith also has a collective aspect to it. We Westerners sometimes miss this. But if we look closely at Nehemiah's words, we see that all of the people gathered together and that they asked the scribe Ezra to bring the law of Moses. Then he goes on to say:

Nehemiah 8:2-3 – “On the first day of the seventh month, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding. 3 While he was facing the square in front of the Water Gate, he read out of it from daybreak until noon before the men, the women, and those who could understand. All the people listened attentively to the book of the law.”

And you thought our services sometimes run long. Let me clarify that you and I clearly have a personal responsibility to read God's Word in private devotion. At the same time, the Scriptures point us to a responsibility to meet with other believers to hear God's Word read and taught. As we gather to worship, we should pause for a moment and take in the whole room and the people in it. Then we should thank God for the people we worship with regularly.

So not only are we to take in God's Word with other people, we should plan to hear God's Word on a regular basis. Not just when we feel like it.