I was thinking about Ecclesiastes, where it says there is a time to speak and a time to keep silent. I wish I knew which was which, or should I say, which was when. And that makes me think of times when it seems as if You are silent. So are You really, or am I just not hearing You?
Think how many words, how many timbres of voice, how many conversations you hear every day–in person, overheard, on the radio, on the television. Think about the voices of nature around you, from the different meows of your neighborhood kitties to Kaylee’s different barks for different reasons, to birdsong and the sounds of wind and water. And think about wind for a moment, how different wind sounds in a forest or by the sea, depending on what the wind is interacting with. The very tone of wind is different, depending on location.
Yes, all that is true.
Humans are not very adept at speaking and listening at the same time. Hence the advice in Ecclesiastes. But I Am able to both speak and listen at once. I can speak to you while listening to your friend halfway around your world. I can hear all the voices, all the sounds, on your planet, in your universe, and all the voices in My Eternity, and all the voices of all created beings, including the angels, all at once. I have Miraculous Hearing! I hear your thoughts, I hear your motives, I hear your silent cries, I hear you whether you are silent or speak aloud. And I know your voice distinct from all other voices, just as you know the voices of those you love. When you think I Am silent, I Am just listening, and preparing your own heart to hear. Just think about the implications of what I just said. If I can hear your thoughts as well as your words, and simultaneously hear everyone else’s thoughts and words, and yet at the same time also hear all of creation, distinctly, and as a part of that, also hear the sounds of human invention, all the machinery, all the noise of creation and maintenance, of transportation and exploration, and still be able to distinctly speak back into everyone’s need to hear, then you need never fear that I will give you the Silent Treatment. That is what you were thinking, when you quoted Ecclesiastes. What if God suddenly goes silent–then what will I do?
I can no more go silent than I can cease to be, not in the ways you imply. Silence in that sense is a metaphor for disconnection, non-involvement, a decision not to communicate or participate. But I Am invested in humanity. My Spirit permeates your world and even your own bodies and souls and spirits. For some, it is true, who are more attuned to Me and My Presence, it seems as if My Spirit is with them in greater measure. But the truth is better stated this way: I Am. I Am no more with you, and no less with you, than with anyone else on the planet.
I need ears to hear, then, Lord. I mean, even more than I have now–which is more than I used to have. Is it possible to hear You in greater measure? I guess I mean, greater and greater measure, with greater and greater accuracy, as we age? Can our hearing grow, in other words?
Yes, you can learn to hear Me even more clearly amidst all the other sounds of your days. We have practiced this a little already, you listening for My words even with the television playing, or with other conversations happening in the background. The earth is always spinning on its axis, and always orbiting the sun. You are always in relationship to Me, from My end, My perspective. How close we are, how close we get, is up to you. I Am closer to you than your breath, for even at your last breath, what you will see and feel and hear and know, is Here I Am.