Vicki shares her thought for the week; open ears.

In my day job I am an English teacher and with my A level students at the moment we are exploring different types of discourse and different types of talk. We are exploring how we might speak in a different way, in different scenarios, with different audiences, and also looking at some of the rules that govern the way that we speak, the rules that society has developed over time. And I’m also aware that when I come home, I am perhaps changing the way that I speak, when I’m speaking to my daughter Carys. I in fact just now have had a conversation with Carys about the importance of her going to have a bath because we don’t want her to be a stinky malinky.

Now at no point would I address anyone else about the need to have a bath because they don’t want to be a stinky malinky. Really I need to think about age appropriate with whoever we talk to. And as God’s children, he wishes to speak to us every day and he will speak to us in an age-appropriate way, perhaps in a way that’s appropriate for that scenario. But sometimes he can speak to us in ways that we don’t necessarily expect.

The Bible explores different ways that God speaks. There’s obviously the burning bush when God wants to speak to Moses. A really striking and bold way to show God’s powerful voice. In 1 Kings 19 God whispers to Elijah, to Timothy reminding us of the importance of regular scripture reading as that is one of the ways that he communicates to us about guidance and what he wishes to speak to us in terms of how he wants us to live.

Psalm 19 verses 1-2 says that

Skies proclaim the work of his hands day after day they pour forth speech.

Romans 1:20 echoes this. Job 33 verse 14 God speaks now one way and now another again showing us that God has a variety of ways he can speak to us and obviously our prayer life when we are actively listening taking that still and quiet time to listen to God.

Through Jesus we also see God speaks to us. John calls him the Word and the word that’s used for that is the word logos. I apologise to any Greek speakers if I’ve mispronounced that. But the word logos means spoken word so through Jesus God’s spoken expression of his heart to us is “I love you so much that I will sacrifice my only son for you.” Through Jesus God speaks mercy and grace and love and certainly actions speak louder than words in that sense. And God wants to speak to us throughout our day but I wonder how eagerly we are listening. How easy is it for the busy hubbub of life, the noise of you know getting kids here and getting kids there or the noise of keeping that job going, keeping that house going, how often the noise of a busy life can drown out what God is trying to speak to us.

So I really want you to focus this week, that’s my challenge to me and to you, to really have open ears, to really listen out for the times when God is looking to speak to us, whether it’s to guide us, whether it’s to rebuke us, whether it’s to challenge us or whether it’s to encourage us. But at all times let’s try and have our ears well and truly open to hear from God. Have a good week.

Every week one of our members shares a short thought aiming to inspire you for the week. You can watch previous Thought For The Week videos by clicking here.