Listen! Pay Attention! Do I sound like your 3rd grade school teacher? These phrases are used over and over again in Proverbs. When we are addressed with the word “listen” our attention goes up. We expect that whatever is said will have special importance and impact. So our ears perk and we hang on a little bit more than normal.
Proverbs draws attention to this topic
Listening is a tough one isn’t it? In this era of caffeine-charged attention spans it’s just hard for us to sit and intelligently listen. I find that unless I’m actively engaged in a conversation, my ability to listen is very poor, and I don’t think that’s uncommon. But if someone says, “Listen!” I’ll give the speaker a bit more attention.
There are many lessons passed along using the vehicle of a father and son in the book of Proverbs, and almost all of them begin with listen. These lessons are instrumental and important. They have the ability to change the course of our lives if we can be obedient to them.
We have previously discussed that obedience is the key to honoring our father and mother. Listening, then, is the key to being obedient. This is why nearly every proverb in which a father addresses his son begins with listen, pay attention, keep, or heed. The author of the Proverbs knows very well, unless a child listens intelligently and considers the words his father speaks, then the words are pointless. Obedience is impossible, without first listening.
Hear, obey
The Bible links listening and obedience in several places. The most important reference is in Deuteronomy 6:1-3, where the Lord says through Moses:
These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, 0 Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you.
God realized that in order for His people to obey His laws, they first must be willing to hear them, for they do not come naturally to us. Importantly, God gives this commandment to the current generation and all preceding generations. The current generation heard of God’s laws directly from Moses and Aaron. Future generations would need to hear of the laws from their parents. The parents thus become conduits in passing along the knowledge of God. Therefore, in the Proverbs, when the father addresses his son he requires attention. The father demands to be heard just as God also demanded that He be heard.
In Luke 11:28, Jesus paraphrases Deuteronomy 6:3, when he says that they are blessed that both hear and obey the word of God. Similarly, Paul says the blessing comes not on those who hear only but those who also obey, in Romans 2:13. These references underline the connection between the two actions. They also indicate that the downfall of the Jews was their refusal to hear and obey Jesus.
We must listen to our parents. It’s our parents who have the God-given job to tell us about Jesus (or at least they should). It is also an essential element to obedience and honoring our parents. As the verses in Luke, Deuteronomy, and Romans indicate, God requires attention from His children and demands they listen to Him and obey His commands. Parents are God’s appointed guardians and should not be denied their children’s attention.
To digress, I’m reminded of a Calvin and Hobbes comic in which Calvin’s mother is scolding him for having done something wrong. We see bubbles from Calvin’s mind showing that he isn’t listening. In the last bubble Calvin says to himself, “It looks like she’s wrapping up. Start nodding head.” Calvin’s Mom ends the comic by commenting, “Good Calvin, I’m glad we had this discussion.”
Learning to listen
It’s very easy not to listen, especially to someone who is giving instruction to us. It requires us to:
- Admit that perhaps we were wrong.
- Give respect to the person talking.
- Resist the temptation to defend ourselves.
- Be held responsible for what has been said.
The list could go on.
If we don’t listen to our parents, to whom are we listening? We’re listening to someone or something. Are we listening to our friends? Are we listening to the movies we watch or the music we hear? To whom are we listening? Who influences and helps motivate our actions? We must understand that we are always listening to something. The Proverbs, in no uncertain terms, tells us that we should be listening to our parents. The writer says in Proverbs 13:1, “A wise son heeds his father’s instruction, but a mocker does not listen to rebuke.” And again in Proverbs 15:5, “A fool spurns his father’s discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.”
The hope is that if we learn to listen and take instruction from our God-given parents we will learn to take instruction from God also. God has commanded our parents that they should raise us in the truth. They are commanded very clearly by the apostle Paul, in Ephesians 6:4, to bring up their children, “in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Likewise in Proverbs the author writes, “Listen my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.” Our parents have been given the job of passing on to us the instruction of God.
Preparing to listen to God
The Proverbs draws clear connections between our father’s and mother’s roles as a parent and God’s role as a heavenly father. Proverbs 3:12 reads, “The LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” When we appreciate the role of our parents to instruct us in righteousness, it will help us to be rebuked by them.
The point is very simple. If we do not listen to our parents we are denying them their God-given role to instruct us in righteousness. If our parents are correctly performing their role, it is not their words that we refuse to hear. We refuse to hear the words of God. This wise father in the Proverbs wasn’t just speaking his words. He was speaking the words of God. As a father he knew the critical importance of what he had to say.
Lastly, let’s use a practical example from scripture to emphasize the point. Think again about the familiar story of Peter’s rejection of Christ. Peter dishonors Christ by denying any knowledge of him. However, the problem started way before when Peter refused to listen to Jesus in Mark 14:30-31.
“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “Today, yes, tonight, before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.” But Peter insisted emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.”
Peter had a problem listening. We can picture it. Jesus had just barely gotten the words out of his mouth before Peter was contradicting the Lord. Peter was so caught up in defending himself and his actions that he didn’t even consider Christ’s words as a possibility. Yet we know that Christ’s words came true. We can be the same way when our parents and elders try to discipline us or instruct us. It shouldn’t be that way. We must learn to listen, consider, and reflect on our parents’ instruction. Doing this will allow us to be affected by their words and motivated to obey and honor their commands.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One