For weeks now, residual side effects from a Eustachian Tube infection have clogged my life with diminished hearing and amplified frustration. My go to phrase has become, “what did you say?” This, less than embraced, condition never crossed my mind to possibly be, like so many other instances I’ve interpreted as, a loud and clear Godly message for me. However, I finally heard it as a twofold God vibrating alert!!
Our two ears are meant to hear as one. Both ears perceive and blend together vibrations into one resonating sound. Talk about a jarring experience. Have your ears ever heard the same thing individually? Mine did. It was as if two people with identical, but separate, voices were talking at the same time, saying the same thing and heard simultaneously, but independently, of the other. My immediate reaction was not only surprise but also fear that my auditory sensors were not only malfunctioning but, even worse, possibly beyond repair!!
Even after a couple of days, when my bilateral ears began to once more function in unison, I continued to wonder about what I conceived then as complete malfunction. Finally, the lightbulb dawned and a smile lit my newly illuminated understanding. Looking unto heaven, I uttered, “Got it, Lord!”
How does God hear prayer? Think about it. Billions and billions of prayers are offered each day to our Heavenly Father’s ears. Many, if not most, rise from dire need. So, are our prayers heard in unison or individually? Many voices express the exact same plea. Are these longings heard as a chorus or a solo? I choose to let my weird hearing occurrence remind, and reassure, me that God hears each and every one of our prayers not as a chorus but individually as a one on one communication. What’s more, the Bible confirms God hears our individual voice. “Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.” Jeremiah 29:12 (NIV)
Having earlier stated my Eustachian Tube symbolic message was twofold, I’ll proceed to my second aha moment. Days turned into weeks of sounds around me often being muffled, at best, and completely muted, at worst. Both frustration and irritation took over my personality as inaudibility captured much of my hearing. “What did you say”, became my refrain. Believe me, that’s disastrous for a lady as verbally attentive and responsive as I am!!! At times, I, literally, felt shut out from conversing with population planet Earth.
At the height of my exasperation, once more, I sensed God nudge my plight towards His enlightenment. There I was, angrily annoyed because I couldn’t hear all the noise and chit chat gabfests of the outside world. Could it be God’s engineering wisdom was shouting not outside babble but His inner voice and direction was what I needed to get an earful of and heed? I was hell bent on hearing the world, loud and clear. However, what my life (yours, too) most needs is to mute the outside world and, in silence, listen to the word of God that often speaks quietly from within my heart and soul. I had forgotten that, so often, God speaks inaudibly from inside out and not blaringly from outside in.
My fight to hear what was coming from external voices turned to God’s peace and understanding, internally, speaking to me. Maybe, God’s message to all of us clearly articulates that not the world’s chatter but His voice needs to be sought, heard and followed. “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God.” Deuteronomy 28:1-2 (ESV)
Uplifted in a Broken Down World 