After my last devotional was in the paper, someone asked me an important question that went something like this: “You say that we should listen to God, but how do we do that? It’s not like He’s sitting next to me. I can’t see His facial expression, hear the exact words or the tone of voice.” True, but that’s why God gave us the Bible; His love letter to us, as well as the conduit of prayer. But many excuses can stop us from responding in obedience and thus learning to listen.

Excuse One: “I’ve tried reading the Bible but I just don’t understand it.” Sadly, some feel that if they don’t understand everything perfectly the first time, it’s useless to try any more. However, continuing to try, while asking God to help us understand, is the obedience God asks of us. If we had stopped trying to walk when we were little, we’d still be crawling. If we had stopped trying to talk, we’d still be unable to communicate. If we had stopped learning to dress ourselves, well…….

Excuse Two: I recently heard someone say that we can’t hear God unless we are near God. God has said, “Draw near to me and I will draw near to you,” (James 4:8 ESV). This tells us that we are responsible to seek to draw nearer to God and He promises that He will respond in kind. He will honor our sincere attempts and our requests for help, but this too, will require some effort on our part.

Excuse Three: Sometimes we ignore God by relegating Him to a distant part of our lives, thus damaging any chance of a growing relationship. If you lived in my house for any length of time, you would soon learn that sound doesn’t travel very well. If I’m in the kitchen, I will probably hear that someone may be speaking in another room, but I have to move closer to the speaker to really hear and thus understand what is being said. We need to be willing to deliberately get closer to God so that we can hear Him.

To summarize: when we regularly and willingly read (or listen to) His love letter to us, we learn more about His character and grow in trust of Him. As we grow in trust, we grow more and more in love with the One who loved us so much that He took the punishment we deserved and died for us. When we grow in our understanding of God’s gift, we grow even closer to the God who longs to have a growing relationship with us. In that, we can hear Him much better!

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart,” (Psalm 37:4 ESV). Good relationships take time to develop. As we obediently seek God and diligently seek to understand Him more, we will find ourselves in the trusting relationship that aligns our desires with His and thus opens our hearts to hear from Him.

Author of a second book, “Journeys in Faith, Pursing Obedience,” containing more than 50 additional devotionals written for The Minot Daily News.