Is Hearing the Same as Listening Well?
Mine ears, though deaf in this world, listen for Your words. Softly, whispering my name. Closing my eyes in prayer I turn my ear to You, straining to hear Your sweet voice.*
The Ability to Hear
Hearing from God and listening to God are two different things. We don’t often see them as different though. It’s the same with our relationships in everyday life. Hearing someone tell us something, and truly listening to what they are saying, should be just as distinct.
For some of us, the ability to hear is a difficult job. I was thirteen years old, about to graduate from eighth grade, when I was first diagnosed with hearing loss in my right ear. The doctors have never figured out what caused the loss, but it never really mattered to me why or how it happened. What mattered was learning to live with it.
Fourteen years ago, in 2006, my hearing left altogether in that ear. I am now what is known as a single-sided deaf individual.
Hardest Part of Hearing Loss
For years, audiologists told me there was nothing they could do. There were no hearing aids that would help me. So, I learned to live with the loss. Asking people to speak up, having my husband and friends walk on my left side so I could hear them better, learning to be patient with those who don’t understand, and figuring out how to keep singing. Oh, I love to sing! But hearing music while singing can be hard (not to mention understanding all the words).
The hardest part of hearing loss is being in crowded places. Restaurants, conferences, lunchrooms, concerts and anywhere there is more than a couple of people with me. The attention and focus it takes to hear people as they speak to me is overwhelming and tiring.
One thing I learned to do while at restaurants during prayer time with my husband or friends, is to turn my head so my good ear is able to hear most of what is said, and hopefully, their amen. In the Bible, this is what is referred to as “inclining your ear.”
Intentional Listening
King David often wrote in the Psalms about asking God to bend down and incline His ear to us. In Psalm 40:1 David wrote, “I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me and heard my cry.”
This is an intentional leaning in. Leaning in to listen carefully. David also inclined his ear to the LORD. Not only was he trying to hear what God was saying, he leaned closely toward God to listen carefully to what God was saying to him.
To do something intentionally means we do it with purpose. We resolve to make it happen in a premeditated fashion. Listening to God is not a passive action.
Listen Well
Proverbs 4:20-22 shares insight into how important it is to listen carefully to God. “My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh.”
This proverb instructs us to pay attention, focus on, and concentrate on the wisdom of God’s Words. Bend your ear. Listen closely. Listen well. When we purpose to stop and give God our full attention, it brings life into our hearts and our minds. We can see our circumstances in a much better light.
Inclining our hearts (and ear) to God brings us closer to Him. Not only physically, because we are leaning into Him, but also spiritually. It enhances our ability to make sound decisions and our faith grows stronger.
Make It a Priority to Really Listen
When we make it a priority to really listen to our family or friends, we not only gain a better understanding of what they want us to know, but we can then respond in a way which will help them know we care about them.
About seven years ago, my doctor gave me the best gift: hearing aids! And they changed my life!
But do you know something? Even hearing aids don’t always help in crowded settings. I still must listen carefully, read lips, and hope I respond in the right way.
Leave a reply (below): When was the last time you inclined your ear to God and listened well, intentionally listening to His voice?
I too am hard of hearing, conversational hearing. I hear most sounds just fine. But understanding the spoken word is very hard, tiring, and draining at times. I dread phone calls the most. Large group meeting drain me as I spend all of my energy trying to understand every word that is being spoken by the person up front, even if they use a microphone. I work very hard to not just hear a person but to listen, understand them. I try hard to not listen to react or respond. When I do that I realized I truly never really listened to them I just heard them. Since I have been attending a lot of Zooms I realize even with earbuds in i see myself tilting my head at an angle as I do that when I don’t wear ear buds but even with the help to hear better with the ear buds I am still tilting my head toward the computer monitor 🙂 Inclining my ear to listen closely.