"Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do: but they did them not." Jeremiah 11:8 (KJV)
How many times have we prayed, "Lord open my ears to hear you!"? Have you ever thought that maybe it's not God's job to open your ears? Maybe God is waiting for you to, in fact, open your own ear?
From examining the words of God in Jeremiah we can see that He paints a different picture about listening than what we normally believe. He says that the Israelites did not incline their ears. In studying this verse I found out that the word for 'inclined' in Hebrew actually means to literally turn, to take action; it's a verb. Not only just a verb but a verb that is related to the person to which the ear belongs. Yes, that is sort of a common sense statement, but yet many of us don't actually believe it.
Sometimes God is actually just waiting for us to turn our ears towards Him, to take responsibility. But this opens up a whole other question: how do we intentionally turn our ears toward God? Well the obvious answer that many of us can think of is to read the bible and pray more, and yes you must do these things to develop your relationship with Him. However, I want to focus more on the idea of having to turn your ear, like why would God use an image of an intentional listening. I think it has something to do with the story in 1 Kings 19:
"After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave." 1 Kings 19: 13 (NIV)
After all the big noises and huge displays of power God comes to Elijah in the whisper. Not in the fire, not in the earthquake, but in the quiet whisper. In Psalms it talks about being still and knowing the Lord. You need to quiet yourself to hear the quiet whisper that comes to your ear. It's not that you have ask God to speak any louder, but you need to quiet yourself, quiet the answers you want, quiet your plans and hear the whisper of the Lord. I pray today that you will intentionally turn your ear and listen to the voice of God, He hasn't stopped talking, you're just not tuning in...
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