Paying attention?

“Stand up, son of man,” said the voice. “I want to speak with you.” The Spirit came into me as he spoke, and he set me on my feet. I listened carefully to his words. (Ezekial 2:1-2 NLT)

I must ask this morning - if God came so plainly to you, speaking to you, telling you to listen carefully to his words - would you? God says to us these very words each and every day - "I want to speak with you." We choose to listen to them, heeding the request, and taking the time to really stop what we are doing to just listen to what he has to say to us, or we choose to ignore the request. What will it be today?

God's desire is to speak with us. It isn't just that we speak TO him. He wants to tell us stuff, too. Sometimes I think we get this prayer and meditation thing all backwards. We somehow believe it us bringing our stuff to God and then we just move on expecting him to 'handle' whatever it is we brought before him. While he delights in meeting our needs, he wants to just talk with us more than anything else.

Talking TO and talking WITH are two totally different things. I have been talked TO - really not allowing me to get a word in edgewise. I have been talked WITH - allowing a free flow of conversation between the two parties until each was heard and all that needed to be shared was complete. If you are anything like me, you have probably sat with God long enough to start to hear him speak to your heart and then you took off running in the direction you 'thought' he would want you to go. The issue was that I didn't sit there long enough to hear the 'rest of the story' (as Paul Harvey would have said).

Listening carefully requires more than a casual investment of our time or effort. It means we engage with him. Ezekial was brought to his feet. The glory of the Lord had made him fall to his knees, but the presence of the Lord brought him to his feet. In other words, he paid close attention. Herein is our issue most of the time - we bow down in worship, but do we stand in attentive anticipation of what he is about to say to us?

Both are important - we do need to bow down and honor his holiness. We also need to sit up straight, see his face, and lean in with intentional listening skills. Engaged senses on all fronts mean that we are not likely to miss what is being said. I journal for that very reason. It focuses my attention. He begins to speak something to me and I write it down. I let him 'develop' that thought fully in my journaling. It isn't that he needs me to write it down, but I do it in order to focus. What do you do to keep your mind attentive to what he is saying? It could be he has been speaking but you haven't been attentive enough to fully listen. If so, today it is not too late to begin. Just sayin!