Listen to God

In all our relationships, listening is very important. As the philosopher and theologian, Paul Tillich put it, ‘The first duty of love is to listen’.

Some people are very good at listening. General George Marshall said, ‘Formula for handling people:

• Listen to the other person’s story.

• Listen to the other person’s full story.

• Listen to the other person’s full story first.’

Listening to God is one of the keys to your relationship with him. ‘To listen’, means to hear attentively, ‘to pay attention to’. Prayer means giving God your full attention first.

Listen to God speak to you through the Psalms - Psalm 81:8-16

We all experience physical hunger, which can only be satisfied by food. You also have a spiritual hunger, which can only be satisfied by listening to God. God says, ‘If you would but listen to me…’ (v.8b).

The words of God satisfy your spiritual hunger. God promises, ‘Open wide your mouth and I will fill it’ (v.10). If you listen to him he says, ‘You would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you’ (v.16).

On the one hand, he says, ‘Listen, dear ones’ (v.8a, MSG). God wants the best for you and warns of the perils of ignoring him. He continues, ‘But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices’ (v.11–12). The result of not listening to God is that he gives us over to the consequences of our own actions (see also, Romans 1:24,26).

On the other hand, he promises that if you do listen to him he will act on your behalf: ‘If my people would but listen to me if Israel would follow my ways, how quickly I would subdue their enemies’ (Psalm 81:13–14a).