'All Ears'
Theme of the Week: Finding God's Frequency
Henri Nouwen
Friday, November 21, 2003
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Key Bible Verse: "God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). Bonus Reading:Psalm 123:1-2
We're usually surrounded by so much inner and outer noise that it's hard to truly hear God speak to us. We've become deaf, unable to know when God calls us or understand in which direction He calls us. Thus our lives have become absurd. In the word absurd we find the Latin word surdus, which means "deaf."
A spiritual life requires discipline because we need to learn to listen to God, who constantly speaks but whom we seldom hear. But when we learn to listen, our lives become obedient lives. The word obedient comes from the Latin word audire, which means "listening." A spiritual discipline is necessary if we're to move slowly from an absurd to an obedient life, from a life filled with noisy worries to a life in which there's some free inner space where we can listen to God and follow His guidance.
Jesus' life was a life of obedience. He was always listening to the Father, attentive to His voice, alert for His directions. Jesus was "all ears." That's true prayer: being all ears for God. We need to concentrate on preventing the world from so filling our lives that there's no place left to listen.
—Henri Nouwen in Making All Things New
My Response: How can I be sure to approach worship with an undistracted heart?
Thought to Apply: I understand I'm here to speak to you and you're here to listen. Let's hope we both finish at the same time.
—Adlai Stevenson (to Princeton University students)
Adapted from Making All Things New (HarperSanFrancisco, 1981) by permission.
Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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O Lord, keep the world from filling my life, leaving no space for hearing and delighting in You.
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