Listening For Action...

Good communication is a two-way straight street in any relationship. In fact, it’s actually a 4 lane street as 4 different actions must take place. One person speaking clearly, the other person listening intently, then the other person responding clearly, while the first person listens intently. These same activities are needed in our verbal relationship with God too.
“God spoke to Israel in a vision that night, ‘Jacob, Jacob.’ ‘Yes? I’m listening’… ‘Don’t be afraid of going down to Egypt’.” ~Gen. 46:2-3
Jacob was understandably concerned. God had made it plain that He was going to give the land of Canaan to Jacob’s family line. And now it seems that everyone is packing up and heading off to a place where they can find food. Jacob needed the same God who showed up in the night and promised Canaan to show up again and assure him that this was OK. Jacob had a history of night visions from the Lord. That’s when he and God seemed to talk the best. And this night was another one of those ‘deep talks’. I take special notice of Jacob’s words, ‘yes…I’m listening’. The word ‘listening’ had a slightly different meaning for Jacob than it does for us. The word ‘listening’ in scripture comes from the same root as ‘obedience’. That is not true in English. For us listening and obeying are two separate actions. But for eastern peoples their version of listening was more intent because an action was always expected to follow. It was all one fluid involvement. I wonder how LISTENING FOR ACTION would affect us? ~verlon