Listening to God—Do You meet the Prerequisite?
Whoever is of God listens to God. [Those who belong to God hear the words of God.] This is the reason that you do not listen [to those words, to Me]: because you do not belong to God and are not of God or in harmony with Him. (John 8:47; Amplified Bible)
I grew up in a small town. So everybody knew everybody…or it seemed that way. I remember as a child when someone at church or in a place of business was trying to introduce me to another adult when all else failed the one introducing me would say, “This is Edsel’s boy.” (Edsel was my father’s name.) Almost 100% of the time the response of the person would be, “Oh, Edsel’s boy!.” All was now good…it was like the person now knew me for all my life because he knew my daddy.
In John 8, Jesus and the Pharisees are having an extended discussion, i.e., a heated disagreement. Jesus, working to boil it down, simply told the religious leaders that the reason you and I are on two different pages is that we have two different fathers. Jesus’s father was God, the Heavenly Father (John 8:18) but the Pharisees’ father, according to Jesus, was the devil (v. 44). Well, you cannot get more opposite than that!
The price was high because of the Pharisees’ father being Satan. That high price was they were not listening to God and thus, the reason they were not hearing, receiving, and believing in the words and teachings of Jesus. Now, be sure you have in your thoughts, these were the ones who were the religious, spiritual leaders of the day who interpreted the Old Testament and taught the Jewish community the law. Yet, Jesus declares, their father is the evil one! Therefore, not being of God, that is, not having God as your Father and not being a child in His family is THE reason someone will not listen or understand Christ.
To be “of” God (Some modern translations add the word “belonging” to help provide meaning.) denotes God is the Source or Originator. To be “of” indicates God is the Cause. So to have a problem that one is not hearing God and listening to Him, underscores one is living with someone or something else as their source of life and cause of meaning and existence.
How is your listening to God going? Are you meeting the prerequisite of having God as your Father. He is your beginning point of eternal life and daily living?
When I was a child, someone not knowing me was quickly resolved when they came to understand who my daddy was. I immediately “had a seat at the table” and a voice in the discussion. The same is true spiritually. When we function in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we have fulfilled the requirement to hear God’s voice.
Our being ‘of’ God precedes our listening to God!
Whether a person needs an initial relationship with Christ or a believing individual needs specific direction to know God’s will the answer for each is choosing-receiving God as your Father, your Source and Author of life and purpose. When you and I do, we too, will have an immediate “seat” of belonging at our Father’s table to hear His voice and will.
