There are very few times that God the Father speaks audibly in the New Testament. I can only find three times, the first at Christ’s baptism, a statement. The last in John 12 where it is another statement to Jesus for our benefit and in Matthew 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9. Three accounts all say the same thing and it is an order or command to the three disciples. I think it is for all of us disciples: “Listen to Him.”
The three found themselves in the dark, on a mountaintop with a Jesus in a glorified body and a once dead leader of Israel and a never dead Prophet of God. In character, terrified, Peter starts talking and he is still talking when God interrupted and said, “This is my Son, my chosen one listen to him!”
In my life I talk too much; in my prayer life I talk too much. Studies show that great conversations and good relationships are fed by the 43:57 rule. Talk less than you listen or listen more than you talk. Peter had to be told, but he had an excuse. I need to spend as much time listening to God as I do talking to Him. That doesn’t have to be passive listening, either. Remember John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Read His Word—listen to Him.
Scott Granville, Member
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