Day 9: Taking Time to Listen
As you begin to spend time with God, settle yourself somewhere quiet and comfortable. Take a few deep breaths. Spend a few moments gathering your thoughts, becoming aware of God’s presence with you and in you.
Journal for 5 minutes on yesterday’s experiment of turning to God in trying circumstances. What did you notice and learn? What challenged you? Did God say anything to you throughout the day?
Then, begin today’s devotional.
Read: Psalm 25:12-14
Once we find a person to be our friend, we enjoy talking to them. We like to spend time telling him/her about us – who we are, what we like and dislike, and what is important to us. In a good relationship, we typically take turns talking with our friend – which means in addition to talking, we take time to listen while our friend speaks. Personally, I could spend hours with a friend over coffee while we take turns speaking and listening.
However, sometimes I find myself talking too much, and I realize I am not doing much listening. We all have trouble listening from time to time. We might get distracted by things around us such as television shows, cell phones, social media, or even other people. We might also not listen well because of things such as emotions, being tired, or preparing a response (or a cool story) in our heads instead of listening. We might also be guilty of talking so much that we do not give the other person a chance to talk.
We all need to get better at listening. Listening shows others that we respect them, and we want to hear what they have to say. Others (most importantly, God) want us to take the time to listen to them and hear their heart – this is how we create and sustain relationships. How amazing is it to think God wants to sit down and chat with us?! As Psalm 25 points out, the Lord confides in those who fear him – but only if we are listening. The easiest way to invite conversation with our heavenly Father is to enter into conversation every day through prayer. In our prayer time, we should tell God what is on our hearts, but we should also stop and listen to what God has to say, too.
Prayer: Gracious and loving God, thank you for the gift of listening. Please help me to be more purposeful in listening during my prayer time with you. Pause for several moments to practice listening to God.I pray that you help me to be a good listener to those all around me, but more importantly, that you remind me to take the time to listen to you while I am praying. Please help me to see listening as the tool that helps me understand the heart of those around me. Amen.
Today's Experiment: During your prayer time today, be sure to take a purposeful pause several times to listen to what God has to tell you during your conversation. In fact, when you are done praying, spend several minutes in quiet contemplation, listening for the Lord’s guidance.
By Dr. Renee Bourdeaux, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies