Thoughts on Listening First and Asking Later
What were you taught about prayer?
Ecclesiastes 5 says: Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. 2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. 3 For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words. 4 When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. 5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. 6 Let not your mouth lead youinto sin, and do not say before the messengerthat it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? 7 For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; butGod is the one you must fear.
Ask first, listen later. Pastor Francis Chan says that oftentimes that is the sum total of what we’re taught about prayer. But what if it is something more than that?
What if we might want to listen first before asking? Where might that take our hearts in this whole prayer thing?
Ecclesiastes has some great words about the human condition. Though the book of Ecclesiastes was written almost 3000 years ago, its words are always true. The Israelites of the Old Testament had a habit of trying to win the favor of God by promising things. They were always trying to say to God: here is why you should listen to my prayer and honor me. But, they ended up just throwing out empty words because they did not fulfill what they had said they were going to do.
We do the same things. We still bargain with God. We still are quick to speak. We still want stuff. We still say what sounds good and don’t follow it up with our actions. Good intentions are simply that: intentions.
Ecclesiastes 5 tries to convince us that it is better to listen first, then perhaps ask. We don’t deny that Jesus invites us to be bold with our prayers, but it always helps to listen first.
Here are a few thoughts on listening before asking:
(1) We Don’t Want to Be Considered Fools
God forgives and that is a great thing. He doesn’t stigmatize us with the earthly labels that do such damage. But we humans have a way of judging who is or is not a fool. How aggravating is it to see someone continually promise things and not deliver? It hurts when we’re on the receiving end and it hurts the integrity of the person who over commits. Fool is not the word a lot of people in our contemporary culture would use to define that person, but it gets the point across. Use your imagination to define that type of person today.
It is always wiser to listen to God in His house than to go in demanding stuff. Might it not be prudent to actually wait until we can get our heart and our emotions settled before the bargaining comes in to play?
Let God speak, and speak, and speak. Maybe then we might be ready to respond with our pleas.
(2) The Fewer the Words, the Wiser the Person
That’s my personal opinion. I wish my sermons reflected this.
I’ve seen to many people try to amplify themselves at any cost. We’ve lost the simplicity of fewer words. It goes beyond listening more; I think we just can’t let things go. Try letting more things go for a period of time, and then go to your doctor and have your blood pressure checked. You’ll be amazed.
(3) Will the Sum Total of Your Life Be Vanity?
I think when a lot of people look back on their lives, they’re going to see themselves having run around in circles, doing things that were meaningless. They didn’t seek the counsel of God as often as they should have. They demanded more and listened less. Ecclesiastes presents great wisdom in saying that our dreams get the better of us, especially in a culture where we’re conditioned to follow every whim of our hearts. Those whims can make us arrogant before God if we don’t take the time to reflect on holiness and simple, sustained growth in the Word of God. If we’re not in a habit of listening to God’s Word, we can get caught up in the busyness of the world and think that we are completing the plan of God for us.
Maybe listening plays a bigger role in our spiritual lives than we give it credit for.
What are you doing for vanity’s sake?
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Jesus was intentional about listening to the Father. The disciples yearned for that type of prayer life and so they specifically asked Him about it. Maybe Jesus listened more than we give Him credit for. Perhaps that was how He was able to walk so powerfully and humbly toward the cross. What might being more intentional about listening first and asking later do for you? Amen.
Amen.
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