A Listening Ear

As I gingerly drove one-handed a week ago, I thought I should be careful to avoid an accident, because that would be no fun at all for someone who already had a broken arm.

The very next day, I headed to a store in awful rain. I saw really bad traffic ahead, so I backtracked to go another way. As I got to an intersection, I recalled wondering whether it would be better to just go home. But doggedly determined, I turned to take another route to the store…only to encounter a disabled car in the middle of the wet road, which I slid into trying to brake on the slick pavement! Then I awoke. Thankfully, the accident was only a dream.

But I realized through this sequence that the Holy Spirit wants to protect us, and He will warn us in different ways and show us things to come.

I recall other situations where a thought briefly flashed through my mind, almost like a premonition. It was something I could prevent, but I didn’t pay attention or take appropriate preventive action, and I saw an undesirable outcome. One was silly—just about some snack mix I held loosely as I ate from a plastic bag. I thought, “If I don’t hold this firmly, it’d be easy to drop it.” Twenty seconds later, it landed all over the floor.

The Holy Spirit talks to us, but most often very subtly, like a still, small voice (1 Kings 19:12 ). Many times, that voice has asked something to the effect of, “Are you sure you want to do that?” Other questions I’ve heard include,

“Is that really worth your time?”
“Do you really need that?”
“Is this good for you?”

Sometimes I listen, and change course. Other times I listen, and although I realize the answer to the question is a definite “No,” I rationalize a way to ignore it because I want to! I want what I want, and I allow that to trump everything else.

We read multiple times in the Gospels, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” God speaks to His children by the Holy Spirit more often than we think. Many times it is not even in words, just an image or a fleeting impression. The question is, will we listen?

These intersections, much like the one in my dream, provide a chance to pray, to ask, to say “Not my will but Yours,” to listen, and to choose the course of wisdom—not earthly wisdom, but the wisdom from above. They give us opportunities to: acknowledge God in all our ways; stop leaning on our own understanding; dispense with hard-headed willfulness and submit to God instead (James 4:7); hold our plans loosely, remembering that, The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace (Romans 8:6, Proverbs 14:12).