His Listening Heart

One of my sons, when he was little had an endearing habit of grabbing my face so that I would look at him while he was talking.  He wanted me to give him my full and undivided attention.  He wanted me to know his heart.

Even at such a young age, my son had a built in longing to be heard and understood, to be loved and valued for who he was.

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We all have a yearning deep in our soul to be heard and understood, loved and valued for who we are. 

Have you ever been talking on the phone with a friend when you get a little niggling doubt that they might not really be listening to you?   How devastating it can be to bear your soul, only to discover later in the conversation that they haven’t even heard a word you’ve said.

Do you ever secretly wonder if God is the same way?  He’s got so much on His mind, demanding His attention, how could He ever have time to listen to your concerns?  Does He really want to take the time to stop, bend down and listen to you?

Look at what Psalm 116:1-2 says, I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy.  Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!  

This is God in relationship with us!  Drawing close.  Bending down.  Listening intently.  Loving fully. 

Isn’t this the kind of God we’ve been searching for? 

Just as a child longs to have his parent’s undivided attention, our heart longs for God’s ever attentive love.  He made us this way.  He put within us this longing.

But so often we turn away from Him and not to Him.  We ignore the longing in our heart and we look to other people or things to satisfy this deep need in our soul instead of going to the Source.  Then we get disillusioned in our faith and wonder if God even cares, if He is really listening and if He understands.

But amazingly He does and when we finally turn to Him, He kneels down and gently takes our face in His hands, wipes the tears from our eyes and says, “I’m listening, my child, what do need to tell me?”