Listen: This is My Plan For You

Teaching a young child to listen to God can be a very difficult thing to do. Unless you know what you are listening for, it can be an arduous task even for most adults.

Today in Sunday School, I gave the kids an example of why it is so hard to hear God talking to us. I told them that I had found a website on the internet that claimed to have a 1 in 3 chance of winning the lottery. The gentleman that owned the site had had a track record of hitting the lottery once every three times he played it, and he shared his secret on his site. I told the kids that I had the numbers for the next lottery drawing and for them to get their pens and papers out so that I can read them the numbers. I told them that winning the lottery could change there lives drastically. (I did not tell them for the better or for the worse.) As soon as I began to read the numbers off, I blasted the radio up full blast until the last number was read, then I turned it off. "Did everybody get that?", I asked excitedly. Obviously the answers resounded "NOOOOOOOOOO!". So I read them out loud again, again turning the radio up full blast.

Our lives are much like that example of the radio blasting in our ears. God has a glorious plan that will change our lives drastically, but our lives are so busy, and filled with so many distractions, we never hear God speak.

I was talking with my father a while back, and he told me that God speaks, but ever so softly. He said that if I wanted to hear God speak to me, I needed to focus on Him, and then listen intently, with no distractions. He said, "If you would just listen, you will hear God speak." I think those are very profound works that apply to all of us, but are so hard for most of us to do. Which leads me to my next thought.

Some kids have often asked "Why doesn't God answer their prayers or requests?" I have often thought the same question as an adult, and had a difficult time trying to realize the answers. Again, in a conversation with my father, he made it very clear to me. He said, "Son, it's like this: If your father has asked that you do something, maybe a chore or a task, and you ignore him time and time again. Then you come to him later with a request of your own, do you think that he will grant that request? Or will he ignore the request until you learn to obey him?"

Suddenly, things became very clear. God speaks very clearly. We need to listen very intently. God has asked that we spend time in the Word, and in James 1:22 it says that God wants us to not only listen to the Word, but to do what it says. If we get ourselves into this type of regiment in our lives, I believe that God will bless us in unimmaginal ways. Kinda like winning the lottery, God's plan for our lives will lead to great joy and happiness, if we would just listen!