Lent

March 30, 2020

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 50:4-9a

The Lord God has given me
   the tongue of a teacher,
that I may know how to sustain
   the weary with a word.
Morning by morning he wakens—
   wakens my ear
   to listen as those who are taught.
The Lord God has opened my ear,
   and I was not rebellious,
   I did not turn backwards.
I gave my back to those who struck me,
   and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face
   from insult and spitting. –Isaiah 50:4-6

My family includes many educators—my mother, one of her sisters, both of my nieces, and three of my nieces-in-law. That is just my immediate family. I also was blessed with some wonderful teachers and professors who shaped and made me the person I am today. To be a good teacher one must be able to listen and to learn from our teachers and more importantly listen, really listen to each child taught.

To encourage us to learn to listen to God, Isaiah used an example, teaching, known to most. It is an acquired skill. God spoke to Moses in a burning bush, to Elijah in the sheer sound of silence, and in words. Most of us are like the child Samuel living with and learning from the Priest Eli, who first heard the words from God and thought it was Eli calling him until his teacher Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, `Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening*.”

I have no idea how to explain God speaking to me or others. I do know we must regularly commune with God and open our hearts and minds to here God’s messages. I do know I was talking to a suicidal teen in a principal’s office once, making no headway when I was interrupted to take a call telling me a treatment place was available for him. I was put on hold, while additional information was gathered and during that brief interlude, I prayed to express my total loss of what to do. The caller came back on the line, gave me the address I needed. I cannot remember what I said to him, but he calmed down and said he would go with me and accept help and he did.

Prayer: Lord, teach us how to listen with our hearts and minds as well as our ears.. Amen.

*See the story at 1 Samuel 3

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.