Mark 9 Listen

I went to a wedding one time with 16…count ‘em …16 bridesmaids. They were everywhere. She didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Thank you Lord, for giving me boys.

People usually have a wide circle of friends and then a few really close ones who just click. They understand how you think, how you reason. You’re on the same wave length. They speak frankly. They tell you the truth. They love you anyway.

Jesus had an inner circle of friends and he took them to a high mountain. He was transfigured there, His clothes becoming radiant and brilliantly white. Elijah and Moses appeared and he began talking with them.

The disciples are hang jawed, wide eyed. All they can think to say is, “Let us make three sacred tents for you.” What?

A cloud formed, overshadowing them and a voice came out of the cloud saying, “This is my beloved son, listen to him.”

God speaks… Creator of heaven and earth. He identifies his son, Jesus. His one admonition is, “Listen to him.” Of all he could have said, these are the three words he chose. We need to stop here and take a deep breath and roll that around in our heads.

Do you listen or just talk? I talk. I interrupt and talk. I talk even when I know my husband is not listening…in fact knowing he just tuned me out 15 minutes ago, I continue to talk. I talk because I want you to know I’ve thought it through…or maybe I’ve not thought it through and I need to think it through out loud because if I think it through in my head, it’ll get lost in all the other thoughts in my head and not only will I not get to think it through to completion, I’ll forget which one I was trying to think through. Plus I have a list and my time is limited so you need to just listen. I’ll talk enough for both of us.

And we wonder why we don’t hear the still small voice of God? He can’t get a word in edgewise. We wouldn’t recognize his voice if we heard it because we’ve never really… heard him.

Listen is different than hear. I sat in on a conference between a parent and teachers regarding a second grader who had just received a cochlear implant. One statement that stayed with me was that he was going to have to learn how to listen now that he could hear.

Listen and hear have two different meanings. You have to pay attention to listen. You have to shut up to listen. You have to be fully engaged, tuned in.

“Listen” permeates scripture. “I spoke but you would not listen.” Deut. 1:43 is one of many. It’s not that He is silent,we are just not listening. And it’s not that He spoke once and we missed it. He tells us multiple times.

It is in this chapter that Jesus first tells his disciples he is going to be arrested, tried and killed but that he will rise from the dead three days later. He repeats this information several times before his death. Each time, he gets the same reaction. “No way, this cannot happen to you.” Sure enough, it does. And they are shocked.

Jesus knew they would not get it the first time so throughout the book, he repeats himself. Remember…this is what is going to happen. I will be betrayed, tried, convicted, killed. But the good news is…you need to watch, because three days later I’ll rise from the dead. He even told them where to meet them after his resurrection…Galilee.

But he does the same for me. I only notice it though, if I’m listening.

It’s kind of like when you decide to buy a new car. Or new to you. You narrow it down to one model and an amazing thing happens.. although you’ve never noticed before, everybody drives that car. It’s everywhere, you’ve just never noticed.

Decide to set aside a specific time and find a quiet place. Alone. Turn off your phone and read the Word. Give it your full attention. Listen as you read. Do it daily. One day a verse stands out. Read it again. Mull it over in your mind. Jot down your thoughts. “God, if this is something I need to remember or do something with, show me.”

Watch. You’ll find he will repeat himself. You’ll begin to notice it in a song you hear, something someone says or see it the next few days as you read his word.

This is not casual reading. This is intentional reading and intentional listening because the world crowds it out. My inner voice reading my list for the day crowds it out, my cell phone, my email, my Facebook crowds it out. The radio, my IPod, friends crowd it out.

It is then that I visualize coming back into the presence of God and quietly saying, “Tell me one more time, that part about….” And I listen. I do what he says.

Though to the world, it makes no sense….it might even not make sense to me, I just do it.

And when I “tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, of his power and the mighty miracles he did,” (Psm 78:4), it will not be from a story book of missionaries who lived on the edge and saw the wonder and power of God, it will be from my own life…daily experiences of a relationship with God made possible because I stopped and listened to Him , believed what he said, and obeyed Him.