Communicating With God:
How To Listen To God’s Voice
One of the basic claims we have as Christians is that God is alive and He wants to have a relationship with us. In fact our salvation is based on the relationship we have with God. But you can not have a relationship with someone without communication. In order to have a relationship with someone you must speak to them, you must listen to them and they must speak and listen to you.
Do you remember the story in the Old Testament about the Tower of Babel? Do you remember why the work stopped on that tower? The work stopped because there was a break down in communication. The people wanted to be greater than God. So God gave the people various languages. This caused a break down in communication. There became a break down in communication because they could no longer understand one another. And when they could no longer communicate with one another they could no longer be productive. The work came to a halt. Here is a timeless truth found in that story.
In order to be productive you must be able to COMMUNICATE.
This truth is true for families, for business partnerships as well as your relationship with God. When there is a breakdown in communication you will cease to be productive.
Today we start a new series on “Communicating With God” and what we are going to look at this morning is: “How to Listen To God’s Voice.” Our text for today is found in Luke chapter 8. Follow along with me as I read.
"A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold." When He had said these things He cried, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" Luke 8:5-8 (NKJV)
Notice the last phrase in this passage. “He who has ears let him hear.” Did you know that this is one of the parables in the Bible that Jesus explains to His disciples? In fact Luke 8:11-18 is Jesus explanation of the parable. Notice what Jesus says in verse 18:
“Therefore take heed how you hear." Luke 8:18 (NKJV)
Twice in the first 18 verses of Luke 8 Jesus tells the people to listen. Listening is important in communication. If you don’t hear what another person is saying you will not communicate with them.
Did you know there are four ways to listen? That is what this parable is about. Let’s look at four ways people listen.
1. Some people don’t LISTEN AT ALL.
Follow along with me as I read verse 5 from the Message Bible:
"A farmer went out to sow his seed. Some of it fell on the road; it was tramped down and the birds ate it.” Luke 8:5 (MSG)
This is planting in the parking lot. This is planting on pavement. Some people don’t listen at all.
I heard a story about FDR that when he was president he got tired of saying the usual things all the time at those White House receptions. So one evening he decided to find out if anybody was paying any attention to what he was saying. As each person came up to him and shook his hand he would smile and say, “I murdered my grandmother this morning.” Person after person greeted him and would respond with, “How lovely." or "That’s nice.” FDR realized that no one was listening to him. Finally a foreign diplomat shook his hand. FDR said, “I murdered my grandmother this morning.” The foreign diplomat looked a little shocked but leaned in to the president and said softly, “I’m sure she had it coming to her.”
Some people don’t listen at all. Some people do. This is true with many of us at times. God wants to speak to us and our minds are closed, our hearts are hardened, we are unwilling to listen, we just don’t want to hear what God has to say to us.
What causes us to have a closed mind? Let me give you three common reasons people have a closed mind.
A. PRIDE. When we think, “I don’t need God. I can do it on my own. I know enough or I know it all. I can handle it myself. I can resolve it. I can fix it.” All of these are statements of pride and they can keep us from hearing God.
B. BITTERNESS. Whenever we get hurt we have a choice. We can become bitter or better. Some people have chosen bitterness and when a person is bitter – they stop listening. When we get hurt we build walls, we hide in a shell and we can say, “Nobody will ever hurt me again.” We can even start blaming God and stop listening to Him. Bitterness does not make us better.
Over the past few months my personal Bible study time has been spent in the book of Job. Did you know one thing that Job never does is that he never turns his back on God. He was always ready to hear God speak. He is always ready to listen to God.
C. LACK OF UNDERSTANDING. Some people don’t listen because they don’t know that God wants them come and listen Him. God wants to speak to you. He wants your attention. He wants you to talk with Him and He wants to talk to you. God wants to communicate with you. A big part of communication is listening.
Look at what Psalm 25 says:
“The humble He guides in justice, And the humble He teaches His way.” Psalms 25:9 (NKJV)
How does He guide and teach the humble? By speaking to them. Being humble means being teachable. The only way we are teachable is by listening to the teacher. He who has ears let him hear.
There are a second group of people.
2. Some people LISTEN BUT FORGET.
These are people who plant their gardens in a gravel pit. They are quick to hear but also quick to forget.
Please follow along with me as we look at verse 6:
“Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture.” Luke 8:6 (NKJV)
Have any of you ever tried to plant a garden in gravel? You can throw the seeds out in the rocks. They will spring up when they get some moisture – but if they don’t have a strong root system they will not last. Shallow soil makes weak plants. A shallow hearer makes a weak believer. We are to study the Word of God, we are to meditate on the Word of God, and we are to put it into practice if we are to be strong believers. James 1:22 says:
“Be doers of the word, and not hearers only.” James 1:22 (NKJV)
The United States Air Force did a study and found that we forget 90-95% of everything we hear within 72 hours. For some of us it doesn’t even take that long. But if you write something down – you can retain it much longer. Even if I forget it – if I write it down – I can pull it up later. That is why we now have sermon outlines on Sunday. Write it down and later review it. The shortest pencil is longer than the longest memory. If you don’t write it down you’ll forget it. We are to study the Word of God, we are to meditate on the Word of God, and we are to put it into practice. Listen - hear - remember - put it into practice.
Here’s a sad point.
3. Some people listen but it’s NOT IMPORTANT.
They plant seeds in the brier patch. There is too much competition for the seed to survive.
Look at verse 7 with me:
“And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it.” Luke 8:7 (NKJV)
They plant seeds but weeds take priority. Our minds are crowded with other thoughts. It is a preoccupied mind. We’re distracted. We’re concerned with daily living, worries, plans, goals, ambitions, bills, all kinds of things.
Let me give you three things that preoccupy our minds.
A. Worries. You can’t listen to God and worry at the same time. The Greek word for worry means to be pulled in different direction. Have you ever felt that you’re being pulled in different directions? You’re not going in right direction when you’re preoccupied and distracted. That’s worry.
B. Money. Our minds can be preoccupied with money. Either the lack of it or what to do with it. Is there enough to go around? If I have it how do I keep it? How do I spend it? If I don’t have it how do I make it? Our minds are filled with money issues. Did you know that Jesus talked more about money then he did about heaven. That’s because people think of it a lot.
C. Busyness. We’re so busy making a living that we don’t really live. We keep so busy that we don’t have time to relax. We get up in the morning and run all day. We are exhausted when we go to bed but we wake up the next day to do it again. God gets the leftovers in life. We are so preoccupied with “doing” that we forget God. We just don’t listen. God gets crowed out.
But let me tell you:
4. Some people listen and HEAR.
They plant their seed in good soil. God talks to people who open their ears to hear.
“But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold." Luke 8:8 (NKJV)
God is willing to talk with you. In fact He wants to talk to you. Are you receptive? Are you the good soil, ready and willing to listen to God? Look at what Jesus says about His followers:
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” John 10:27 (NKJV)
A country boy went to visit a friend in New York City. It was about noon and they were downtown by Times Square in Manhattan. The streets were filled with people. Cars were honking their horns, sirens were wailing and the sounds of the city were almost deafening. The country boy said, “I hear a cricket.” His friend said, “You have got to be kidding. You couldn’t possibly hear a cricket with all this noise.” The country boy listened again and said, “Yes I’m sure of it. I hear a cricket.” The two boys listened very carefully for a moment and then the country boy walked across the street to a big cement planter where some bushes were growing. He looked into the bushes and sure enough there was a cricket there. “That’s incredible,” said the city boy. “You must have super-human ears.” “No.” said the country boy. “My ears are no different then yours. It all depends on what you are listening for.”
What are you listening for today? God wants to speak to you.
Prayer:
Father I pray this day that I would listen to Your voice. Let me not ignore You. Let me not listen to You and then forget what you said. Let me not crowd Your words out of my life. But let me receive Your words with my whole heart and become a doer of Your Word. Amen.”
