Jesus Has Something to Say to You

by Lynn Mosher
(Louisville, KY)

“I have something to say to you,” (Luke 7:40 NLT).

If Jesus said that to you, would you immediately put down your duster, turn off your computer, the radio, or TV, hang up the cell phone, or stop whatever you were doing and say as Samuel did, “Speak, for Your servant is listening,” (1 Sam. 3:10 NIV)?

Though I have learned to be still before the Lord, I sometimes fail to put that knowledge into practice. Allowing outside circumstances to overtake me, I listen to the multitude of voices or duties instead of the Lord.

I know I am not alone in this.

First, how many of us truly take time to be alone with the Lord, Whom we say we love? Second, even if we take five minutes to pray, we usually talk at God, treating prayer as a monologue and not as a conversation.

Conversing with the Lord implies that we listen to Him. He says, “Oh, that My people would listen to Me,” (Ps. 81:13a NKJV). Do we really make a conscious effort to sit down and listen for the Lord to speak to us?

Always in a rush, we put in our requests and run out the door, not waiting to hear what God has to say. God does not have carry-out service like a drive-thru Taco Bell, and we don’t get to return what we receive if it isn’t prepared the way we want it or to complain if it isn’t served as fast as we would like it.

If we unscramble the word ‘listen,’ what do we get? Enlist and silent! When we enlist in prayer, our priority should be more than just handing God our grocery lists of wants and needs; it should be to listen.

We could learn from the angels a lesson in being still and listening. Ezekiel gives us a picture of the angels coming to attention in the Lord’s presence, “And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings,” (Ezek. 1:15 KJV). When they let down their wings and stood still, they heard the voice of the Lord.

In fluttering around in our fast-paced society, do we ever let down the wings of our frenzied spirits and come to rest as the angels at attention?

God says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Ps. 46:10 NKJV)

If we were still enough, we would hear all those messages of love, comfort, peace, and, yes, even discipline, that we long to hear. God is a Gentleman and will only speak to us when we shut out the racket of the world and stop talking. If we do not still our senses and hush our hearts, how can we hear heaven’s music?

David said of being in the Lord’s presence, “That’s the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world, the perfect getaway far from the buzz of traffic,” (Ps. 27:4 Msg). In the Lord’s presence is that secret place where no outcries of earth intrude, where no ghosts of years past interrupt, where no outside opinions interfere, where no urgency of decisions impede.

Oh, to hush each intruder attempting to thwart the calm necessary for our weary and restless souls that we might experience the sacred silence in His presence, the secret fellowship with Him. Do we desire this more than the wooings of the world?

The Still Small Voice has no destination if there is no listening ear.

Is intimacy with the Lord missing in your life? Do you take time to be still in His presence? Do you follow after Jesus seeking something from Him as the multitudes did, or do you lean upon His breast as John the beloved did, just to be near Him, or sit at His feet as Mary did, just to serve Him in worship by pouring out your thanks and your tears as fragrant oil upon His body?

It only costs us our time to listen but it costs us our quality of life not to listen!

Jesus has something to say to you … will you listen?