Open My Ears, Lord, to hear Your Voice

During His earthly ministry, Jesus opened the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf.  Today, He still continues to open the eyes and ears of our souls.  It has always struck me that our souls have the same "parts" as our bodies:  we have "ears to hear" and "eyes to see," in Biblical language; we "hunger and thirst for justice," (which means holiness, or "rightness within" as well as rightness externally).  We are filled with good things spiritually, just as we are filled physically with the fruit of the land.  We desire to be united with God, as man and woman desire to be united with one another. 

Even more striking is that God Himself has the same "parts," though He is pure Spirit.  His eyes roam the earth, seeking those who will hear His voice; He hears the cry of the poor and of those who cry out to Him. His voice thunders over the waters; He yearns for union with His friends, His beloved.  He hungers and thirsts for our love and companionship.  All these things we learn from Scripture.

The theme of "listening," or of "opening our ears" to hear God's voice runs throughout Scripture almost continually from the opening pages of Genesis to the closing pages of Revelation.  When Jesus describes Himself as the Good Shepherd, He links His active guidance to the fact that His sheep "know His voice, but...they do not recognize a stranger's voice."  He even says that He has "other sheep, not of this sheep pen."  They also "listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd."

All of our efforts at unity seem to rest on this one event---those who listen to His voice are one flock, with one Shepherd.

Now listening is active, just as the "voice" is active, not passive.  We "hear" a voice that is speaking --- and not only speaking, but speaking to us.   Here and Now.  In the present time. 

In the Old Testament, the references to listening are so numerous that it is hard to know which to choose or how to begin.  The Book of Sirach speaks in the voice of Wisdom personified:

Come aside to me, you untutored, and take up lodging in the house of instruction;

How long will you deprive yourself of wisdom's food, how long endure such bitter thirst?

I open my mouth and speak of her:  gain wisdom for yourselves at no cost.

Take her yoke upon your neck; that your mind may receive her teaching.

For she is close to those who seek her, and the one who is in earnest finds her (51:23-26).

All of Proverbs 8 speaks of Wisdom and the gifts she bestows on those who "listen to me, watching daily at my doors/ For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord" (34-35). 

Strikingly, Jesus also says in Chapter 10 of John, the Good Shepherd discourse, My sheep listen to my voice; I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.  No one can snatch them out of my hand...no one can snatch them from the Father's hand (28).  His words echo those of Wisdom in the Old Testament.

How then, do we come to hear the voice of Wisdom, the voice of Jesus, the voice that speaks in the depths of our souls, the instruction that gives everlasting life that can never be taken away?

I think a great place to begin is with the prayer Open my ears, Lord, that I may hear Your voice, and not my own, nor the voice of another.  I want to hear You speaking in my soul, and I want to know that it is You that speaks. 

Proverbs Chapter 2 is another great place to begin, slowly, and with prayer:

...if you accept my words, and store up my commands within you,

turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding,

and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,

and if you look for it as silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,

then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding....

Then you will understand what is right and just and fair --- every good path.

For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul (1-10) (emphasis mine).

Many people search for wisdom; how many know that truth and wisdom come from the "mouth" of the Lord, and that He is more than willing to open our ears to hear His voice speaking in our inner parts?