Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Thursday 03/17/2011)

Am I Guarding My Hearing?

Job 34:2-4 (New Living Translation)

² “Listen to me, you wise men. Pay attention, you who have knowledge.  ³ Job said, ‘The ear tests the words it hears just as the mouth distinguishes between foods.’ ⁴ So let us discern for ourselves what is right; let us learn together what is good.

            One of the most important lessons I had to learn in my life was that not everyone qualifies to speak into my life.  The other lesson I had to learn as I matured in my faith walk with the Lord was that I could not give ear to all things.  There are some things that I have learned and I am still learning that are just not good for us to sit in the presence of and listen to.  I know that when I was finally accepted by girls in my mid-twenties, I use to want to be in their presence because I didn’t have many girlfriends, but a lot of what I found was going on in those circles or times of hanging out was gossiping, bashing, and a whole lot of things that were not edifying to the soul or spirit, but it scratched the itch of the itching ears that were present, mine included.  But I learned that this was definitely not a good process to engage in, because one could find themselves reacting adversely to things that we know nothing about, or adapting someone else’s opinion and philosophy.  When we do this we also do not learn to discern, for ourselves.

            Proverbs 2:2 says, “Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding.”  It has become so easy to just listen to anything and be in the company of anybody, regardless of the things that they say.  We have become so desensitized to, obscene language, people using the Lords name in vain and obnoxious talk.  We think it is funny when we hear people become demeaning and demoralizing to others in a public venue.  We think nothing of hearing God or the name of Jesus in the same sentence or statement as a curse word.   We have no problem sitting around listening to people slandering others, and condemning others, and not having the whole story straight or even bothering to check their information before they take that information and repeat it.  We are not guarding our hearing, a matter of fact most of us do not even think about the things that we hear, and what that can mean to us or other people in the long run.  We have learned to laugh at things that are far from funny that are said in our hearing and to give ear to the juiciest bits of information, instead of shutting it down, or walking away.  I can openly admit that I do not always get this piece right, but as I sat this weekend, God was dealing with me about this very issue.  He was making me aware that in spite of what I thought I could handle, and where I might have thought I was spiritually that I needed to take painstaking efforts to guard my hearing.  We do not realize that what we hear can become what we think, and what we think can become how we act or react, and how we act or react can become a characteristic or a part of our personality.

            For many of us we are engaged daily in conversations and we are in the hearing of things that we perceive as harmless, never thinking for a minute how those things may, affects us, and ultimately cause us to act or react in a manner that is unpleasing to God and hurtful to man.  We need to be aware of what we are allowing to enter our ear gates.  Our ear gates are one of the penetration points that can be used to put us a place of compromise and a place of walking out of God’s will.  We need to become more selective as to whom we allow to hold our attention and speak into our lives, to guide our thoughts and our character through their conversation and the topics and people they choose to speak about.  We need to understand that doing right is not always about an action that we take, but sometimes it is about an action we don’t allow.  We need to judge what we hear to ensure that is not harmful to us or another. We need to ensure that it is not words that grieve the Heart of our Heavenly Father, and that we are not in the hearing of things that will compromise of beliefs, values and salvation.  Guard your hearing for it is a point of entry to your soul and spirit, and seek after wisdom to guide what and whom you listen to!