God tells us to trust Him and He will take care of all our needs, He will protect us from those who would hurt us and He will surround us with people who care about us. So why do we have such a tough time listening?
One reason we find listening hard is because we each have a constant internal dialogue that keeps us distracted, even when we are most focused. It is difficult to turn it off, accomplish complete internal silence and then wait, quietly, for His voice. I know that whenever I try to shut off my internal dialogue, I never completely succeed. The closest I have ever come is reaching the point where my only thoughts are, “I must be quiet.” Of course, that is still internal dialogue. Thankfully, God is able to get my attention long enough to convey His message to me. He is able to do this because He is God and because my heart wants to hear from Him, even though I can’t quiet my thoughts.
Another reason we can’t hear Him is because of our selfishness. Sometimes we just know that if we let God speak, He will tell us to stop what we are doing, or that we can’t have what we want. This is not what we want to hear. Being born with a naturally sinful nature ensures it will take deliberate effort on our part to turn from our own desires and seek His way for ourselves. To reach this point is far more difficult than turning off our inner voice, and far more important. Quieting the voice in our head is just a matter of cutting through the noise, but turning from our own selfish ways and desires takes a deliberate choice that goes against our natural inclination. However, we must accomplish both if we truly want to hear from God, and we must accomplish both all day, every day.
The good news is that God wants to give His best to us. He wants us to succeed beyond our wildest dreams. He wants to bless us in ways we don’t even know we want. He wants us to have great, loving relationships with Him and everyone. He wants us to have earthly and heavenly rewards that will make us better people and give us great joy. He wants to take care of us like nobody else will or can. All we have to do is try to quiet our inner voice, yield our will to His and listen for His calling.
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