Listening As A Disciple

Dear Friends,

Have you ever felt inadequate when it comes to speaking into the lives of those around you?  When they come to you for some words of comfort, support, advice, do you worry that you won't have the right things to say to them?  Do you believe that you're not the best person for them to be talking to?  Do you compare yourself with others and think they really should be speaking with so and so because they always know just what needs to be said and how to say it? 

I admit that there have been plenty of times when I have felt just like that.  I have believed that I just don't have the wisdom to know what they need to hear and have thought that they would be better off speaking with someone else.

I have found great encouragement in a particular verse from Isaiah:
"The Sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary.  Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will."  Isaiah 50:4 (NLT).

The Amplified Bible puts it like this:
"The Lord God has given Me [His Servant] the tongue of disciples [as One who is taught], That I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple [as One who is taught]."

Now, although this words were a prophesy by Isaiah concerning the coming Messiah I believe they are just as relevant for me and you.

I live my Christian life as a disciple (or in other words a follower) of Jesus.  He is my teacher and I am his student.  How does he teach me?  In a huge part, it is through his Word, the Bible.

So, if I want to know how to speak words of sustenance, comfort, counsel, encouragement, wisdom etc. then I need to spend time learning from my teacher, Jesus and use the tool he gives me, the Bible.  Everything I need is found within those pages and as I spend time in them God promises to give me "his words of wisdom so that I know how to comfort the weary" and he gives me "the tongue of disciples"

You see, it's not about me, with my earthly, limited wisdom speaking the words I think will bless others, it's about using the spiritual wisdom that God gives me, that God gives to each of us when we ask for it.  God is the one who can teach you and me exactly what to say to others if we will only listen to him.

If I want to know daily the things to say which will bless others, then I need to be daily in God's Word.  I can't expect what I learned yesterday or last week to be enough for myself and for others for today.  That's why Isaiah says that God awakens us "morning by morning".  It is vital that I am regularly reading the Bible, first and foremost for myself, to help me in my own Christian walk, but also so that I can share with others what I have learned and be a help to them.  I cannot share with them what I have not first learned for myself.  That's why Jesus told his disciples in John 14:26 "But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you." (NLT).  The Holy Spirit cannot remind you and me if we have not learned it in the first place!

The last part of the verse in Isaiah tells us that God "wakens me and opens my understanding to his will." or "awakens My ear to listen as a disciple [as One who is taught]."

This is not just about physically waking up, it's also about having our minds awake and alert, our ears ready to hear what God has to teach us on that particular morning.  It's about concentrating on what he wants to say to us and it's about us asking him, by his Holy Spirit, to help us to not only hear but also understand what he says.

If we will spend that quality time with Jesus, sitting at his feet as his disciple, listening to him and learning from him we will then be equipped with the words that people need to hear.  And they won't be our words, but they will be the words he has taught us.  We will be enabled to share his truths with others in a relevant way.

The challenge for me is to stop thinking so much about myself and worrying about whether I have the right thing to say and concentrate on God asking him for his spiritual wisdom and ask him to speak through me so that I may say what he would have me say.

This is what Paul explained to the Corinthian believers  when he spoke about how he relied on the power of the Holy Spirit when he shared God's Word with them.  "When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths."  1 Corinthians 2:13 (NLT).

To Think About:
Do you feel inadequate when people look to you for words of support, comfort, counsel, encouragement etc.?  What can you put into practice in your own life that will better equip you for speaking to others?

When have you experienced God giving you a word which "sustains the weary" or blesses them in some other way?

How regularly do you sit at Jesus' feet with a mind alert and prepared to learn from him?

Vicki



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