Listening to God

LISTENING TO GOD

We previously considered prayer in terms of talking to God (see the sermon Talking to God) and suggesting that the language and content of our prayers should be natural and not contrived; simple and not pompous, personal and not abstract. We turn to God as Abba, father.

But conversation is a two way exercise; it involves both talking and listening and so I want to explore briefly that aspect of prayer which we might describe as "listening to God".

Whilst I was at college I was encouraged to go on a course at Bagshot Park which was then the Army Chaplaincy Headquarters, and explore the possibility of becoming a chaplain of one of the services.

We were addressed by the Archdeacon of the Fleet, the Chaplain General of the Army and Senior Chaplain of the R.A.F.

It was the talk of the Chaplain General of the Army that made the most lasting impression upon me for two reasons.

Firstly, he suggested that a chaplain meets a very wide cross section of people. To illustrate his point, he recalled a recent gathering which he had attended which included a Field Marshall, a Major General, a Brigadier, and a full Colonel - and realising that this was not a good cross section moved on to make another point!

The second reason why this person has stuck in my mind is that he suggested that as we went around Aldershot Barracks, Portsmouth Naval Base and R.A.F. Lyneham in the following days that we should "cock an ear" to see if God was calling any of us to be a chaplain in the armed services.

Well, in my naivety, I cocked an ear but heard nothing except the roar of jet engines, the thump of marching feet and the hum of diesel engines below the decks. As regards the voice of God, I heard nothing.

And if I am absolutely honest, I have never heard the clear concise words of God ringing in my ears. Perhaps others have but I have not. And there have been other times when I have been desperately seeking for guidance when faced with a decision and I have longed to hear the word "Yes" or "No" when trying to discover what God wanted me to do in a certain situation.

I know that there are stories in the Bible where people claim to have heard the voice of God. Samuel for instance was asleep when he heard God calling his name and he responded by saying: "Speak Lord for thy servant heareth". And again, Saul when he was blinded on the road to Damascus claims he heard God saying "Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?".

Now whether they actually heard the words being articulated, or whether it is a pictorial way of expressing what they felt inwardly at the time, I would not wish to say.

All I know, is that I have never actually heard the words of God ringing in my ears. However, there have been occasions when I have felt it right to move in a certain direction, or to respond in a certain way, and I have described such occasions as God speaking to me.

I suspect I am not alone in this. Very often when faced with a decision I have laid my cards out on the table, metaphorically speaking, and having examined the situation from every possible angle, have found myself led to a certain conclusion.

You see, my friends, I think God speaks to us through our imagination. For instance, in deciding whether or not to take a certain job, I have found myself imagining what it would be like to be Vicar of this parish or Chaplain to that situation. I have allowed my imagination to project myself into possible roles and to see what I find attractive and what I find unattractive and slowly I have come to a decision.

Now you may say that is wish fulfilment or even day dreaming, but I do not believe it, because often I have come to a conclusion which does not sit comfortably upon my shoulders. For instance, I have three times taken a decision which has involved a considerable drop in pay - but I have taken these decisions because I felt it was the right thing to do and because I believed God was nudging me in that direction despite the personal sacrifices involved.

Most books on prayer have a section on wondering thoughts. By and large they are considered to be at best distracting and at worst harmful. I don't think I would agree because it is when we surrender control of our thoughts, and allow them to wonder, that God is able to open up new ways of looking at things and thereby challenge us to determine his will. In other words the wondering thought can be the means of God speaking to us.

Perhaps it is in our sleep that we have the most suggestive thoughts. I never cease to be amazed how often I go to bed at night with a problem on my mind, only to awaken in the morning to find the solution staring me in the face. In other words it is when we are asleep and dreaming - when we let go of our conscious self and let the unconscious self take hold of us - that God is able to speak to us.

Sometimes, God speaks to us through the words of scripture, the psalms, the hymns and even sermons. Again I have often been amazed how often a person will leave church and thank me for a sermon which they have found particularly helpful. Often I have asked them what in particular they found helpful and their reply has borne no relationship whatsoever to what I have been saying. Now that is not to say that they have not found anything but it has not been what I was saying. In other words, it seems as if the words of a sermon, or as I have just said of scripture or a hymn or prayer, have been the springboard for their thinking which has ignited their imagination. Again, I would not for a minute suggest that they have not been paying attention, but rather that God has taken those words and used them as a channel of his communication with them.

Finally the voice of God is often encountered through other people. It was when Father Edward Lee Smith asked: "Terry, have you ever thought of being a priest?" that I was enabled to own what I had been thinking and dreaming of for years. Again, often when trying to listen to the will of God, I have talked the problem over with close friends and they have quite unknowingly been the means whereby God has spoken to me,

To sum up then, conversation is a two way exercise and we need to listen to the voice of God. I have never heard the words being articulated in my ears, but I have been aware of God speaking to me through my imagination, dreams, wondering thoughts, the words of scripture and those of other people.

If you have never encountered the word of God, perhaps you would do well to recall that we have two ears and one mouth. We are meant to listen, twice as much as we speak. Now that is a hard lesson to learn.

I have a priest friend who is very lonely and often rings me up. After asking how I am and without waiting for a reply, he will start a monologue about “me, myself and I” and, if I may make a confession, often I will put the telephone down on my desk and carry on with my work, picking it up every so often and saying "Yes, quite, of course" and then after a while suggesting there was someone at the door and I must go. Yes I am wanting to listen to him but he refuses to listen to me.

The problem is that he never wants a conversation - he never wants a dialogue - he wants a monologue and that may be like us in prayer. Often we want to talk and not listen and we wonder why God is distant.

So remember, two ears and one mouth. Listen twice as much as you speak.