Wake Up, Reach Out, and Listen
by Tracy Gordon
“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” –Jeremiah 33:3
Many of you may be familiar with the famous painting by William Holman Hunt called “The Light of the World.” It represents the figure of Jesus preparing to knock on an overgrown and long-unopened door, illustrating Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hears My voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will eat with him and he with Me.” There He is in all of His glory…Jesus, not forcing His way in, but asking our permission because our permission is sacred. In this scripture, Jesus is inviting the Laodicean Christians to realize how their own self-sufficiency has shut Him out of their lives. He’s offering them, in essence, a second chance, an opportunity to once again invite Him in. Inviting Jesus in is allowing Him to transform us to be more like Him.
Recently, I had a profound experience that brought this powerful visual to my heart and mind. You see, our son Jimmy is currently going through a difficult season regarding his health. He is battling a severe skin condition over his entire body that brings great pain, itching, and discomfort, making sleep extremely difficult. Even though he is an adult, as his Mama I just want to fix the situation and will try and do anything that might have the possibility of bringing relief. I always think when our children suffer, we suffer; then something happened that reminded me that Jimmy’s Heavenly Father is suffering right along with him as well. One night recently, I was very restless in my sleep. I was worried about Jimmy and he was at the forefront of my mind. I kept waking up every couple hours, but just laid there trying to go back to sleep. The next night I literally woke up every hour on the hour. After the first three hours, I thought it was weird and then as though someone shook me to my senses, I felt the Lord prompting me to partner with Him and pray for Jimmy throughout the night. I had been praying all along, but this was as though the Lord was knocking on my brain saying, “Wake up, wake up! We need to talk more about our boy!” After that realization, I continued to be awakened at 1:00 am, 2:00 am, 3:00 am, 4:00 am and 5:00 am and spent each time lifting Jimmy and all of our concerns regarding his health to His Heavenly Father. I sobbed…I begged! I thanked the Lord for allowing me to hear His voice of prompting and realized that hearing from God starts with two things…knowing He wants to talk with you and then being intentional about listening.
In Jeremiah 33:3, God tells Jeremiah, “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” God assured Jeremiah that if he earnestly sought Him in prayer, he would receive God’s response and revelations. This verse highlights God’s desire for people to genuinely call upon Him, to seek His wisdom and guidance. It’s a reassurance that God will respond to sincere prayer and share profound truths with those who seek Him earnestly. It’s a message of hope and encouragement, particularly in times of hardship, as it assures us that God is listening and willing to reveal His plans even when things seem bleak.
I feel like today’s world is so busy and loud. It is hard to hear God’s voice in our mile-a-minute culture of commotion. The internet is loud, the news is loud, our music is loud, our kids are loud, our distractions are loud. And God is described as having a “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12). No wonder we miss so much! One way to turn up the volume on God’s voice is to renew your mind to the fact that He wants to talk to you every day. When you increase your expectancy, you also increase your ability to hear Him. Lean in! He wants to talk to you right now!
Heavenly Father, please help us turn down the volume on our chaotic surroundings so that we can hear Your profound voice more clearly. Thank you for breaking in on those moments we so desperately need You and continuing to knock more loudly. Thank You for loving us so much that all we have to do is call to You and You are there. May we never take that for granted. In Your precious Name, Jesus, we pray, Amen.