October 14, 2013 by Sojourner’s Tales

Why don’t we listen for God?

A series of events prevented my family from traveling with me down to Tennessee this weekend. In hindsight, that was one of the best things that could have happened to me. The journey from Missouri to Tennessee is a trip of about five and a half hours. I spent the whole trip down there thinking about myself, my problems, my worries, my wants, my desires, and how I needed God to help me. I thought that I was having a great conversation with my Lord when, in reality, I wasn’t even listening for his response. Needless to say the trip down to Tennessee left me feeling exhausted, and when I arrived there was no feeling of peace in my heart at all. Most of the weekend that followed wound up being a typically enjoyable and relaxing visit with family. Little did I know it at the time, but neither the Sunday morning church service, nor the drive home would be typical.

Even though I hadn’t been listening to God on the way down to Tennessee He had been listening to me. The joy of watching people truly worshiping the Lord in church that morning filled a hole in me that I hadn’t even known was there. Every song that we sang seemed to answer one of my problems, or one of my worries; or made me realize how truly inconsequential those worries and fears really were when compared with listening to what God was trying to tell me. When the singing finished the Pastor stepped up to preach. That sermon opened my eyes and allowed me to see I’d only been thinking about myself, and not about what God wants. God wants intimacy with His children, but too often we are so busy with our own lives that we don’t take the time to actually listen to God’s side of the conversation. We quickly say our prayers, open our eyes, and go on struggling through our busy, busy days; never stopping to hear the other side of the discussion. Thankfully, as always, God never gives up on us, he always gives us another chance to listen to Him.

I was so reinvigorated when I left church that I longed to hear more of God’s word being preached. A couple of quick taps of the seek button on the radio brought me to a radio station that I’d never listened to before. The sermons that came out of that radio all had a common theme that morning–relationship, relationship, relationship–and how a conversation between two individuals goes both ways. No exchange of ideas actually occurs without both parties listening to what the other has to say. As a side note; I find it interesting that I reached the broadcast range of that radio station exactly at the end of the last pastors’ sermon. He finished talking, I drove up over a hill, and when I came down the back side of that hill there was nothing but static on the radio.

The rest of the drive back to Missouri was peaceful and quiet. I prayed, but this time I prayed for God to show me what He wanted. God filled my head with ideas throughout that drive, but the one recurring message that I kept hearing was, pray; spend more time with me.

How I felt upon my arrival back in the St Louis area was completely different from the exhaustion I’d experienced after my drive to Tennessee. I felt empowered, invigorated, wanted, and cared for, but more importantly I could feel God’s peace within me.

Thank you God for showing me that you want to spend time with each of your children, and thank you for your patience as you wait for us to listen to you.

When was the last time that you listened to what God had to say to you?