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Last Friday, my wife and I went to college to pick up our daughter for her Fall break. We had a chance to enter her dormitory and met her roommates. I was amazed how clean it is in her room. Later she told us that her roommate is a neat type. So, she began to build a good habit as her roommate. You can call it peer pressure but it is certainly a good one. We are quite pleased to see this happening.  Funny thing is we had been on her case in asking her to manage her room neatly for quite a while. Her selective hearing approach, however, has always blocked our request.

Hearing is one of the important senses that God created for us. Without the sense of hearing, we couldn’t listen to beautiful sounds (music); we couldn’t communicate with other people; we couldn’t tell whether danger is coming or not. Basically, we could lose our ability to communicate with the outer world. Even with the ability of hearing, does one always pay attention to what he heard? Not necessarily, I believe. We as parents probably had so much experience with our children. From the day they were born, we started to communicate with them and wanted them to follow our instructions. How many times we told our children to listen and they didn’t? Probably countless, right? I would imagine this would be the same frustration that our parents went through with us too 🙂

I was always thankful that God gives us the sense of hearing and the ability to filter what we heard. The ability of filtering is sometimes causing us trouble too – we could listen to something that is destructive, such as rumor or gossiping, instead of something is constructive, such as commands and instructions from God. From the Bible, there are numerous examples that we can learn from. For example, if Adam and Eve had listened to God’s command, then human race would not fall into the control of the evil one; if Israelites had listened to God’s instruction, they would not need to wander in the wilderness for 40 years; and, they would not be captivated by their enemies later.  In reading the book of Jeremiah, the LORD repeatedly warned the Israelites, through Prophet Jeremiah, that they have to listen to His commands and instructions; otherwise, serious consequences would follow. Did Israelites listen? You can check it out by yourself.

Is God listening to us? Certainly! He listens to what we say attentively – this includes what we said to others and what we said to Him. Therefore, we need to be watchful and listen to Him carefully. There are two verses that caught my eyes in the recent daily Bible reading. Hope they can serve as a reminder to us. May we continue to be His beloved ones!

I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. None of them repent of their wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Each pursues their own course like a horse charging into battle. Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the LORD. 我 留 心 聽 ， 聽 見 他 們 說 不 正 直 的 話 。 無 人 悔 改 惡 行 ， 說 ： 我 做 的 是 甚 麼 呢 ？ 他 們 各 人 轉 奔 己 路 ， 如 馬 直 闖 戰 場 。空 中 的 鸛 鳥 知 道 來 去 的 定 期 ； 斑 鳩 燕 子 與 白 鶴 也 守 候 當 來 的 時 令 ； 我 的 百 姓 卻 不 知 道 耶 和 華 的 法 則 。(Jeremiah 8:6-7)