Hearing God Through the YearSample

Expectant and Alert

“Happy is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord.” Proverbs 8:34-35 (NRSV)

James Dobson has given some of the best practical advice I have heard on how someone who wants the will of God and who has a basically correct understanding of it should proceed. On a radio broadcast, he once described how he does it himself: “I get down on my knees and say, ‘Lord, I need to know what you want me to do, and I am listening. Please speak to me through my friends, books, magazines I pick up and read, and through circumstances.’” Such waiting is not empty, but expectant and alert.

The simplicity of this should not mislead us. When we are in a proper, well-functioning relationship with God, this is exactly what we are to do. And then we are, as Dobson says, to listen. This means that we should pay a special kind of attention both to what is going on within us and to our surrounding circumstances.

PRAYER: If you wish, experiment with this method. Choose something you need guidance about. It may be something as small as what topic to bring up when you meet a friend for lunch. Then offer the prayer as stated above. Wait without trying to make up answers!