Did You Hear That?
By Grant Gaines
I read an interesting story in one of Mark Batterson’s blogs about a musical trainer who worked with Opera singers who could not hit certain notes within an Octave, even though the notes fell within their vocal range. It was a mystery. The trainer did extensive testing on their vocal chords, but he couldn’t find any reason why they couldn’t hit those notes. On a whim, he tested their hearing. And what he discovered is that these Opera singers could not sing a note they could not hear. The problem wasn’t singing. The problem was hearing.1
When I read it I couldn’t help but to see the spiritual connection between this story and our own lives. The vocalist couldn’t do what they were made to do because they couldn’t hear. In the same way, we as Christians cannot do what we were created to do if we do not hear God. In fact, a failure to listen to God is one of the top reasons why “complacency” and “apathy” have become two of the defining words of American Christianity today.
Because, much like these musicians who had every physical ability to hit these notes but were unable to do so because of a lack of hearing, God has equipped us with everything we need-He has given us the Holy Spirit as a Helper (John 14:26), He has given us every spiritual gift we need to live a godly life (2 Peter 1:3), and He has given us the ultimate message of hope (John 3:16). But if we, like the musicians, fail to listen, then all of those gifts that God has given us to achieve His purposes will be thrown out the window and we will live a life of painful mediocrity. That pretty much sums up today’s story in Genesis 3.
This is a story that you are probably very familiar with but just as a recap, God had just created Adam and Eve one chapter earlier (Genesis 1 and 2). In those days, man walked in step with their loving Creator because there was no sin separating a holy God from a sinful human. Unfortunately, all of that changed in Genesis 3:6 when Adam and Eve ate a piece of fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
So what was the “sin” in this story? Was it the act of eating that piece of fruit that was a sin? Is the Lord so allergic to fruit that He can’t even be around those who eat it? No, eating the fruit wasn’t the sin; not listening to God’s commandment was.
As you’ll recall, the Lord gave Adam and Eve one command-” And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die'” (Genesis 2:16-17, NIV). That’s the one rule that Adam and Eve had to concern themselves with in those days-don’t eat from one tree in the entire garden. But as we all know, Adam and Eve chose not to listen to that command and therefore paid dearly for their negligence.
The same principal that was true for Adam and Eve was the same principal that was true for the musicians which and just so happens to be the same exact principal that is true for us-if we don’t listen, we can’t do what we were made to do. And what, exactly, were we made to do? We were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27) for the glory of God (Isaiah 43:7). To put it plainly, we were put on this planet to know God (John 17:3) and to make Him known (Matthew 28:18-20). The achievement of this purpose is the sole reason why God has given you breath right now-to know Him and make Him known in every single situation.
But if we live like Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 and ignore His promptings and commandments, we will be completely inefficient in accomplishing this holy purpose. The key to our success both individually and collectively as Christians is to intently listen to God daily through devoting ourselves to knowing His Word. If we’re not constantly plugged into God through the Word, prayer, worship, fellowship, and service, we will not be able to scale the mountains of life as God desires us to.
God has commanded us to sing to Him songs of praise (Psalms 147:1), but we better make sure that we are listening to Him so we can sing in the right key.
“[The Scriptures] are not just idle words for you-they are your life…”
-Deuteronomy 32:47 (NIV)
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
