Learning to Listen

According to the maps app on my phone, I am just shy of 8000 miles away from home. I am on the other side of the world, visiting the Garo Hills in the Nation of India. It is about 5:30 in the morning, and I’m wide awake. I’ve actually been awake since just after 3:00am. It’s been a recurring theme for the past several nights. The realities of jet lag are part of the experience of traveling around the world.

While my struggle to sleep has left me dragging towards the end of each day, I’m not all that upset. I’ve done what most of us do when we can’t sleep at night: stare at the ceiling and listen to the sounds of the night. Only, instead of listening to the sounds of the furnace turning on and off and the creaking of my old house dealing with the resulting rise and fall of temperatures, I am hearing the sounds of nature outside my window. And, my friends, there are many sounds to hear!

My favorite pastime is attempting to discern between several animals making similar sounds in the darkness of the morning. The sound is a short howling sound that starts low and tails off as it rises in pitch. Three animals are making this sound. Two are common animals that aren’t worth my auditory attention, but the third is something special and I want to hear every sound I can from them while I can.

There is a rooster who crows every so often, but he doesn’t sound like the other roosters in the area. He doesn’t so much crow as howl (And, I know it’s a rooster because I’ve seen and heard him in the daytime as well). The second animal is a dog who is just far enough away that the sound fades ever so slightly before reaching my ears. The third animal is a Hoolock Gibbon.

Every so often the Gibbons will call out to each other from across the mountain. It’s almost as if they, too, are trying to distinguish the early morning sounds. When they determine it is another Gibbon and not a jacked-up rooster or a random dog, they put on a show. They begin howling back and forth at each other, crescendoing to a chorus of “whoops”. It’s glorious and unmistakable. But, I don’t just want to hear the big sounds, I want to hear them all. And so, I sit in the dark, I focus my attention on the sounds in the darkness, and I listen intently attempting to discern the difference.

The Lord has challenged me in these moments. I feel the Lord asking me why I don’t listen as intently for His voice. Am I as interested in cutting through the various sounds that might mimic Him so that I can make sure to hear the real thing? Or, am I willing to settle for a cheap imitation that is easy to find but utterly unexceptional and of little to no value for my life?

There is more than a little noise in our world. Even in the quiet moments, whether in our ears or in our hearts and minds, sounds abound. And, in the midst of it all, the God of the universe continues to speak to us. Are we listening? Are we learning to discern the difference? Let us adopt the posture of the prophet Samuel and pray, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.” Whether small or great, His voice is worth hearing.