What Do You Hear?

In his book, “The Cry of Compassion,” John O. Anderson writes a wonderful parable:

An American Indian was walking with a friend in a large city. The Indian stopped suddenly and looked around. “I hear a cricket,” he said. His friends said, “That’s impossible with all the noise around here.” “No, I hear a cricket,” the Indian said and looked around until he found the cricket. “That’s amazing,” his friend said, “but I sure don’t see how you managed to hear a cricket in all this city noise.” The Indian smiled and took a handful of coins out of his pocket and tossed them along the sidewalk ahead of them. People for half a block ahead stopped and started looking for the money. The Indian turned to his friend and said, “People hear what they are listening for.”

It is just as amazing that those people could hear the sound of coins hitting the sidewalk, as the Indian could hear the sound of that cricket. Obviously, the Indian had his ears tuned to listen to nature, and the other people on the street had their focus on money; else they could not have heard it. I wonder how many of them would have scrambled to pick up those coins if they saw them.

Likewise, I wonder about us, as believers in Christ. What is it that we are listening for? If we were on that busy street, would we hear the cricket, the coins, or something else? Many say that they struggle to hear God’s voice, yet many also hear Him. What is the difference? Could it be that some are listening more than others.

All too often, God has to wait for some quiet moment to catch our attention, and say something to us. Is that because He wants to wait for that moment? Or, could it be that we don’t give Him our attention, because it is distracted by other things?

Could it be possible that we could learn how to hear God’s voice, even in the midst of the hustle and bustle of life? I would have to say, “Yes, we can.” It may not be easy, but it is possible. Many of the prophets in the Bible learned to do just that. If they could learn it, we can too. All it takes is learning how to listen to His voice.

Or, what about hearing the people’s hearts; their pain, their loneliness, their suffering? Can we learn to hear those things as well? Through learning how to hear those things, can we possibly be used by God to minister His love to those people?

What we are listening to is based upon our priorities; when we get our lives in line with God’s will, then our listening changes. Instead of listening for the ring of coins on the ground, we will lift up our countenance and listen for God’s voice, for hurting hearts, and for how we can make a difference.