Listen With Our Hearts…

Posted on January 23, 2024 by Elizabeth Welte in Freedom Fighters

How often do we listen to what’s being said? How frequently are we pondering our response before hearing what’s spoken to us? How often do we criticize before we hear an answer to our complaint?

 

Habakkuk was upset with God. Don’t get me wrong, He trusted God with all his heart, but he couldn’t grasp why God would let something he considered harmful, even evil, to go unchecked. And if God was going to discipline His people, why would He use worse people then his children..?

 

Habakkuk clearly loved God, but that didn’t keep him from respectfully challenging God with a request to help him understand the vast gap between what he believed and what he saw happening in the world.

 

Understanding God requires actually listening to His answers, but how frequently do we complain and grumble, only to then put our preverbal earbuds in and never listen for God to speak.

 

I love Habakkuk’s response, “I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guard post. There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how he will answer my complaint.” (Habakkuk 2:1 NLT) He didn’t run off in a tantrum, he remained at his post, doing all that God required of him. And all the while, his heart, and mind remained still or silent before God. You see, we are usually not ‘stilling our hearts and minds’ in our ‘discussions;’ we are typically formulating our arguments and waiting for the others to take a breath so we can jump in with our opinion.

 

Driven by love, God will not force Himself into your life. In love, He allows you to choose participation in His perfect design or live in opposition to His will. Those are the only two choices. God is absolute perfection, therefore His will is right and true. So, to not humbly repent of your self-centered desire for control naturally puts you in opposition to perfect justice, a barrier you cannot overcome.

 

God speaks in the stillness of our hearts. He gladly pours out understanding and hope in a mind resting on His promises. Twice in the garden before His betrayal, Jesus told His disciples to, “watch and pray so they would not enter into temptation.” (Luke 22:39-46) That sounds a lot like what Habakkuk did, when “he climbed up to his watchtower and stood at his guard-post, waiting to see what the Lord says and how He will answer his complaint.” (Hab 2:1 NLT)

 

(Originally Posted 08/06/2020)

 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the doctrinal and theological views held by America’s Keswick.

 

Written by David Brown: David Brown is a husband, father, grandfather, Pastor with a Masters of Religious Studies and a Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Religions. Dave is the Associate Pastor of Pemberton’s First Baptist Church. He is the author of two devotional books, “From a Chair by the Window.” And “#PrayerWinsThe Day”.

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This Week’s Verse to Memorize: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” – 1 John 4:7-8