Attend to My Words, Incline Your Ear

We are now going to deal with four specific requirements for achieving the kind of sensitivity of heart we have been talking about in the previous days. The first two requirements go closely together and I would describe them as “attention” and “humility.” These requirements are stated many times in the book of Proverbs and we need to bear in mind that Proverbs was written by the man who had asked God for a hearing heart, Solomon. Let me give you just three passages from the book of Proverbs where these two requirements are joined together.

My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Proverbs 4:20

The two requirements are: attend and incline thine ear. To incline your ear means to bow down your head which is a mark of reverent, respectful humility. You’re not arguing with God. You’re not dictating to God. You’re waiting to hear from God. The inclined ear is an essential part of hearing from God.

“My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding.” Proverbs 5:1

Again, the same two conditions: attend and bow the ear. And then again, in Proverbs 22:17:

“Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.”

The implication of the first part of that verse, “bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise,” is that if we don’t bow down our ear, we won’t hear. If we don’t have the right attitude, the attitude of humility, respectfulness, reverence, then we will not hear. So it says, “Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.”

You see, always it’s the heart that hears the voice of God and we have to apply our heart. We have to attend. We have to focus our attention. Let me sum up those two requirements briefly. First of all, to hear God’s voice we must give Him our undivided attention (attend, apply thine heart). Now, that’s totally contrary to contemporary culture where most people are used to listening to at least two things at one time. I remember when I had teenage children that were still in high school. One of my daughters was sitting there at the kitchen counter doing her homework and watching a television program at the same time. And my mind reeled. I’ve been a student; I’ve been a teacher, I’ve been a professor at a university, and I absolutely could never do that. If I’m watching television, I cannot focus on my homework. If I’m focusing on my homework, I could not intelligently watch television. Now I’m not saying she didn’t achieve any results, but I’m sure she didn’t achieve the maximum. But that’s typical of contemporary culture in the Western world. People are afraid of silence. Do you know that? They always want some noise going on, background music, something somehow to distract them. But if you want to hear God’s voice, you can’t afford to be distracted. You’ve got to focus both ears and all your mind on God. You have to cultivate attention. It’s a gift or a quality that many people just don’t possess today.