My son, if you will receive my words

And treasure my commandments within you,

Make your ear attentive to wisdom,

Incline your heart to understanding; 

For if you cry for discernment,

Lift your voice for understanding; 

If you seek her as silver

And search for her as for hidden treasures;

Then you will discern the fear of the LORD

And discover the knowledge of God.

—Proverbs 2:1-5

We had a guest speaker at church yesterday. Personally, I tend to enjoy guest speakers. It’s an opportunity to hear a new voice and learn from a new perspective, which I love. Normally, I’ll be sitting as close to the front as I’m able with my tablet, scribbling notes as quickly as I can. But that was not the case as the speaker began to teach.

He started by telling his story. It was heartbreaking. His family had endured years of generational trauma on both sides that eventually tore the family apart. He told us how it came about that his parents divorced. How he lost his relationship with his father. How decades later, he was able to reconcile with his father a little. How, in the meantime, God provided a spiritual father who could speak blessing into his life rather than cursing.

And suddenly, half of the time allotted for the message was gone, and I hadn’t written a thing. I had a brief panic moment in which I had the horrible feeling that I was missing everything God might want to show me. But then something happened— “Just listen.” It wasn’t audible. I haven’t gotten to hear the audible voice of my Savior yet, but that was what I heard and felt in my spirit.

Learning to Just Listen to God

Reluctantly and a little slower than I should have, I began putting away my tablet. There was still part of me that was afraid I might miss out on some divine revelation, but I did what I felt God leading me to do, and for the first time in ages, I enjoyed just listening to God without the pressure of trying to record something on my tablet. It was so peaceful and restful.

And that got me thinking about how long it’s been since I devoted time to just spending time with Jesus and listening for His voice.

Wisdom’s Call in Proverbs

The beginning of the book of Proverbs is like a nine-chapter-long letter to Solomon’s son explaining why wisdom is so important. Chapter one starts by talking about why wisdom is useful and how sinners will try to encourage Solomon’s son to join them, and describing how Wisdom personified calls out to those who reject her.

Then we get to chapter two. This chapter is titled in my Bible, “The Pursuit of Wisdom Brings Security.” It’s all about the benefits of pursuing wisdom, but it starts with these five verses, where Solomon pleads with his son to take his advice and seek wisdom.

Three different times in these five verses, Solomon tells his son, albeit in a roundabout way, to listen to what he’s saying about wisdom. First, in verse one, Solomon starts by introducing the idea of receiving and treasuring what he has to say. Then in verse two, Solomon uses language that indicates a posture of reaching out for something through the words attentive and incline. And finally, in verse four, Solomon talks about seeking wisdom as if it were precious silver.

All three of these examples are different ways of communicating the same thing—listen. Pay attention because your father has something to share with you.

Listening to Our Heavenly Father

While it’s true that the context of this passage is a human father speaking to his human son, I also think this applies to us in a spiritual sense. We also have a Heavenly Father who wants to share His wisdom with us. And for that to happen, we have to listen.

The one thing I notice about all the descriptions of listening I see in this passage is that they all require intentional action. Treasuring the Father’s words requires not only being open to listening, but also actively working to remember those words. In verse two, the language indicates that we should be reaching for God and His truth. And in verse four, we’re called to actively try to find wisdom.

It feels a bit like a contradiction. Yesterday at church, I felt the Lord leading me to sit still and listen, while this passage is saying that we need to be active. But I don’t think it’s as much of a contradiction as it appears.

Active and Intentional Listening

While listening might seem inactive from the outside, it’s not an aimless activity. It requires active focus and intentionally setting aside time for it.

I had fallen into the trap of assuming I didn’t need to set aside time just to hear God’s voice. I was assuming that if God wanted to say something to me, He would, and I would naturally hear it. But I found that in making the effort to remove the distractions and just listen, there was so much more peace and intimacy and rest to be found.

A Call to Listen This Week

This week, I want to make some time to spend with Jesus. No distractions. Just listening. And I hope you’ll join me in seeing what God has to say.