HEAR, HEAR

It’s been said before but bears repeating:  The degree to which we trust another to hear us has less to do with the volume of our voice and more to do with the quality of the listener’s ears.

My first steady girlfriend fancied herself as an aspiring singer.  No offense to the late Eileen, but she was more like a perspiring one!  She worked hard to learn to sing as good before others as others sung before imaginary shower audiences.

Every now and then for entertainment value, our mutual friend would invite us over to his house , crank up the girl’s favorite tunes (Karen Carpenter and the like), and crown her with headphones, so that she would sing loudly and off-key.  I found it more pathetic than entertaining, and that she could shatter glass without hitting high ‘C’ was enough for me.

A few years earlier I was involved in a “tween” youth group.  We met for a mixer at the home of one of our group members one Saturday night.  When it was time for games, I was one of three people that volunteered to be sent out of the room.  When we came back in, we’d get a prize if we successfully guessed which person in the group (at the count of three) was screaming the loudest.  Out of nearly two dozen people, picking the loudest can be quite challenging.  As we came back in the third time, we were told it was our last chance to successfully guess (our previous two guesses were incorrect).  We purposed to listen intently—and then it happened, at the count of three—only one person yelled!

You don’t have to sweat an ocean to have your prayer heard by the Lord—He won’t ignore you if you sing loud or off-key—He won’t even chastise you if you’re the only one in a crowd yelling out to Him.  When you call, He enjoys—and His enjoyment is your peace.

b(Les)sings

Psalm 65

King James Version (KJV)

 ¹Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed.
 ²O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.
 ³Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away.
 ⁴Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.
 ⁵By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation; who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea:
 ⁶Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains; being girded with power:
 ⁷Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people.
 ⁸They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens: thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.
 ⁹Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it.
 ¹⁰Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest it soft with showers: thou blessest the springing thereof.
 ¹¹Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.
 ¹²They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every side.
 ¹³The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.