“Can you say that again?” I asked my Arabic teacher for the fifth time. She was explaining a new phrase and how to pronounce it, but I could not wrap my brain around how she was actually making the sounds. I had to listen over and over, all the while studying her mouth and possibly even her throat just to attempt to repeat it back. Thankfully, she was a patient teacher and kept at it with me, showing me step by step slowly how to say the simple phrase. To this day, I still don’t know if I say it correctly. Language learning requires so much listening. Everyone thinks it is primarily your mouth that does the work but I think it is actually our ears that have to be more in tune to what is going on. Our brains have to process new sounds that feel like our mouths can’t produce. My ears seem to extend out of the sides of my head in effort to catch every nuance of them.

How extensive do our listening ears go when we attempt to hear God? Do we go by what we know or what we think we are hearing? Are we attentive to every sound and bend in the message? James 1:19 tells us to be quick to listen and slow to speak. That puts priority on being quiet and attentive to what is being said. And according to Proverbs 18:13, “To answer before listening, that is folly and shame.” We apply these principles to language learning, but how much more should we practice it when waiting on the Lord? He has a lot to say, but we have to be quiet, still, and attentive enough to hear it. Many times, we have a lot to say to Him too, so we may answer before listening. If we give Him focused attention, it draws us nearer. Just like leaning closer to a language teacher, leaning into God gives us a better view into what He is saying. The wonderful part of taking this slow and careful process, He doesn’t get frustrated if we ask Him to repeat it over and over, even if it takes more than five times. He is happy to keep speaking. We just have to stop and listen.