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Musings and Memories

Listen to the will of God

Doug Dezotell
Posted 2/4/23

There’s a story told about President Franklin Roosevelt, who so often had to endure long receiving lines at the White House.

He said that no one really paid any attention to what he even …

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Musings and Memories

Listen to the will of God

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There’s a story told about President Franklin Roosevelt, who so often had to endure long receiving lines at the White House.

He said that no one really paid any attention to what he even said as they shook his hand, so the story goes that one day, during a reception, he decided to try an experiment.

To each person who passed down the line and shook his hand, he murmured, “I murdered my grandmother this morning.”

The guests responded with phrases like, “Marvelous! Keep up the good work. We are proud of you. God bless you, sir.”

It wasn’t until the end of the line, while greeting the ambassador from Bolivia, that his words were actually heard. The ambassador leaned over and whispered, “I’m sure she had it coming, Mr. President.”

Now whether that’s true or not, I still like the story.

In the New Testament, James wrote in the 1st chapter of his letter: “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, and slow to speak…”

We all need to listen, to listen closely, attentively, and realize what we are hearing.

I read this story awhile back in The Upper Room devotional, and I want to share it with you.

“A distressed driver stopped me as I walked and announced that she was completely lost. Agitated and berating our town’s apparent lack of signposts, she told me she was late for an appointment.

“I knew exactly where she wanted to go and how to get there. I explained the correct way slowly and clearly, despite her impatience.

“If you listen,” I found myself saying, “You won’t get lost.”

“She nodded, relaxed, then reversed her car and disappeared from view.

“As I watched her go, I wondered how often I ask God for direction but don’t stop and listen. Am I just speeding on in life or rushing through the day with just a cursory glance Heavenward? This stranger was a timely reminder to me of my need to study God’s Word, the Bible, more closely and to take the time to listen receptively to God.”

When I read that devotional that morning in my quiet time with the Lord, the phrase, “If you listen, you won’t get lost,” stuck in my mind all that week. And I knew I had to share that in my Sunday sermon. And I did.

When we are seeking God’s will for something specific in our lives…we need to pray, ask God for His direction, and then listen for what He tells us to do.

The Christian author, Thomas Merton, wrote: “What is the use of praying if at the very moment of prayer, we have so little confidence in God that we are busy planning our own kind of answer to our prayer?”

Do you ever find yourself doing that? Praying and then not waiting to hear from God, but going ahead with your own planning?

It’s easy to do that. We’re so used to figuring things out on our own.

But we need to listen to God.

I remind myself and my Church Family all the time, “God speaks. We need to listen.” Elaine Foster said: “God speaks in a soft voice I can hear better when I resolve to listen and stop putting words in His mouth.”

Wow! That is humbling!

I think that a lot of times we do put words in God’s mouth, telling ourselves what we want to hear, instead of really listening to what God has to say to us.

The Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, heard God say (Isaiah 30:21): “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, ‘This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.’”

We all need to pray for direction, for God’s will to be done in our lives. That is what Jesus taught us to do by both His words and His example.

In His well-known “Sermon on the Mount,” Jesus said (Matthew 6:9-10): “After this manner therefore pray ye: ‘Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in Earth, as it is in Heaven.

Several years later on the evening that Jesus knew He would be arrested, we read in Matthew 26:42: “Jesus went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.’”

Jesus taught His disciples to pray “Father God, Thy will be done, not my own.” And that is exactly what Jesus prayed Himself.

He surrendered to God’s Plan for Him to be arrested and then crucified; to die, knowing that He would rise again. He prayed “Thy will be done.”

The folks at Pew Research put together a quiz that measures “knowledge of the Bible, world religions, and what the Constitution says about religion in public life.” Guess who scored the best? It was those who claimed to be agnostics and atheists.

In fact, “Bible-belt Southerners … came in at the bottom” and “those who believe the Bible is the literal word of God did slightly worse than average, while those who say it is not the word of God scored slightly better,” and it was a rare thing for Americans to be able to identify the first book of the Bible and the first four books of the New Testament.

Wow! That’s embarrassing. People who say they don’t believe in God know the Bible better than those who claim to be Bible-believing Christians. Wow! Shame on us!

I remember one night years ago when Lynn and I were ministering out on the streets of downtown Louisville, Kentucky, and we came across a man that was drunk, stumbling down the street.

Our ministry team stopped him and we asked if we could talk to him. With his approval we began to witness to him about Jesus, and we shared the Gospel Message with him.

But then he stopped me in mid-sentence, and he began quoting the Word of God right back at us.

He started preaching from the Bible right back at us.

Even in his inebriated state, he knew the Gospel, and the Word of God began flowing from his mouth.

He knew he wasn’t doing God’s will, and he said he wasn’t sure if God was even real.

Our ministry team gathered around that man, and with his permission, we all prayed for him. And then with tears running down his face, he thanked us, and he headed on down the street. There’s a lot more to that story.

But, I firmly believe that we all need to learn the Word of God, and learn how to seek God’s direction, His will, His desire for our lives.

And then act on it. Do it! And we need to Live It! We need to Be It!

We need to pray, “God, I want Your will to be done in my life, and not my own.”