Love Listens

I enjoy a good conversation. I enjoy talking (sometimes, I fear, too much). Sharing stories, expressing my opinions and communicating how I feel is my idea of a good time. Recently, as I was struggling with intense emotions, I pondered how much I appreciate it when someone truly listens. It means so much to me when someone is willing to take the time to hear what I have to say – especially when they patiently listen even when I struggle to find the “right” words, or when what I do express is less than cheerful.

As I reflected upon what a comfort it is to my soul to have a good listener available, a significant section in the book Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer came to mind. My heart was especially touched at the recollection of the precious phrase: “… (God) who is Himself the great listener.” This renowned theologian asserts in a segment of his writing which he labels the “Ministry of Listening” many valuable principles.

Below you will find an excerpt from the book. I took the time to type it here for your edification.

The key factors which I gleaned that I want to apply to my life include:

·        I need to pray more often because of the assurance that God indeed listens

·        I need to listen to what God has to say

·        I need to be a better listener to others

 “The first service that we owe to others in the fellowship consists in listening to them.  Just as love to God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them. It is God’s love for us that He not only gives us His Word, but also lends us His ear. So it is His work that we do for our brother when we learn to listen to him. Christians, especially ministers, so often think they must always contribute something when they are in the company of others, that this is the one service they have to render. They forget that listening can be a greater service than speaking.

Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians because these Christians are talking where they should be listening. But he who can no longer listen to his brother, will soon no longer be listening to God either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God too. This is the beginning of death of the spiritual life, and in the end there is nothing left but spiritual chatter and clerical condescension arrayed in pious words. One who cannot listen long and patiently, will presently be talking beside the point and be never really speaking to others, albeit he be not conscious of it. Anyone who thinks that his time is too valuable to spend keeping quiet will eventually have no time for God and his brother, but only for himself and his own follies. Brotherly pastoral care is essentially distinguished from preaching by the fact that added to the task of speaking the word, there is the obligation of listening. There is a kind of listening with only half an ear that presumes already to know what the other person has to say. It is an impatient inattentive listening that despises the brother, and is only waiting for a chance to speak and thus get rid of the other person. This is no fulfillment of our obligation, and it is certain that here too our attitude toward our brother only reflects our relationship to God. It is little wonder that we are no longer capable of the greatest service of listening that God has committed to us, that of hearing our brother’s confession, if we refuse to give ear to our brother on lesser subjects. Secular education today is aware that often a person can be helped by merely having someone who will listen to him seriously, and upon this insight has constructed it’s own soul therapy which has attracted great numbers of people, including Christians. But Christians have forgotten that the ministry of listening has been committed to them by Him who is Himself the great listener, and whose work they should share. We should listen with the ears of God that we may speak the Word of God.

Life Together pp.97-99 Harper and Row

I love the LORD, because He hears
my voice and my supplications.
Because He has inclined His ear to me,
Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live.
Psalm 116:1-2

Here is a link to a song that inspires hope because God hears !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3jjUokcu6I&feature=related