It was late in the afternoon when Sam and Liza carried the last box into their new home. Apart from a table that got scratched, the move went fine.
For this family the day had started 14 hours earlier. It was still dark outside when Sam got out of bed. Sam Jones is a middle aged manager of a hardware store. On this day Sam, his wife Liza and their two sons had to move their belongings to another house.
Before Sam had started packing the last few items, he remembered his early morning appointment with Jesus. In the empty study he went down on his knees and fired away.
On the other side Jesus was anxiously waiting for the regular meeting with Sam. This morning Sam did not knock on the door but abruptly stormed into His presence and started to talk.
“Jesus, thank You for listening, wow, I need You so much today. Please, help us to get this moving episode behind us without any problems. I still need some money to cover all the bills for this month, Jesus, would You please help us. Lord, I am so sorry for the way I treated Liza last night, please forgive me, but she just refuses to understand that I cannot afford to see a doctor now, and by the way, You are healing me, right?”
At that moment Liza called Sam to move a heavy box in the kitchen. He quickly said amen, opened his eyes and stormed into the new day.
With tears in His eyes, Jesus followed Sam. He longed to stop Sam and take him into His arms. He loves this man and his family so much.
Sam’s meeting with Him every morning usually goes this way, but this morning Sam was even hastier. Jesus felt the urge to speak to Sam like He does every morning but Sam never bothers to listen. He wanted to tell Sam that he should check how they load the furniture because carelessness would damage some. He also wanted to share with Sam that the hardware store on the other side of town needs a manager and they would offer him a far better salary. He also needed Sam to ask Liza’s forgiveness for the cruel words he spoke to her last night. Liza is concerned about him because she loves him so much. There were so many things Jesus wanted to tell Sam, but… he simply never stops to listen.
When we pray we have to speak, but we need to listen too, because Jesus also wants to take part in the conversation.
When Jesus walked on this earth, He constantly listened to His Father in heaven. I believe Jesus listened a whole lot more than He spoke. We do it the other way round by making Jesus the Listener, while we deny Him the opportunity to speak to us.
The biggest mistake people make, is that after they have prayed, they walk off into the day as if Jesus stays behind. For many the word “amen” means goodbye. Jesus promised that He would never leave us. The right kind of relationship would be one where I speak to Him throughout the day and where I also stop to be still and listen to what He has to say to me in particular.