The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. — Isaiah 50:5
My wife has always said that I have selective hearing. I often laugh when she says this to me, but I will admit that it can be difficult for me to follow conversations when I am doing many other things. Between listening to our son, work messages, emails, and many other distractions, I many times have missed things that she said.
When listening, I have learned that the best way to hear what someone is saying is to look at them directly without any distractions between us. It is much easier to hear without a cell phone, television, iPad, or anything standing in my way of hearing them. Even at events where I am listening to someone speak, I want to see them.
That brings about challenges for a Christian when we may not be able to look at God in person. We hear God speak to us through His word, through prayers, and through His interactions in our lives. Yet, many times we may not physically see Him working until after the work is finished.
While not seeing someone while they speak can be challenging, I do believe that there is something to the selective hearing topic. While I may talk about the subject jokingly with my wife, it seem that it is something we commonly do in our relationship with God.
We want to hear from God when we face circumstances and situations in life. So many times we only want to hear from Him on our terms and in our own way. It’s so easy when we do not hear what we want to hear to ignore Him.
Isaiah talks about that here in this verse. He said that God opened his ear and spoke to him. He said he was not rebellious when God spoke and he didn’t turn and go the other way. The verse helps emphasize the importance of listening to God when He speaks to us.
When God speaks to us, how do we respond? Do we listen and give Him our undivided attention? Or do we simply turn and look a different way? When God speaks to us, it is a divine intervention into our life and circumstance. It may not be what we want to hear, but it is exactly what we need to hear. The question then becomes how are we going to respond?