To Live Listening Not Knowing

Today I want to tell you a story, give a testimony, and share a praise report with you. Circumstantially it is about our recent server transfer to a new host, but during this event I saw a principle of life that I experience daily. It sounds simple ­– and it is – but sometimes it’s not easy to live out. What is this principle? Living life listening not knowing.

The Principle of Listening NOT Knowing

The reason I was able to see this is because I was working with a friend and brother who functions in a similar way; he lives listening not knowing. When I live with the great “I know,” I thwart my ability to hear God. Knowing is deafness to His telling. When I go into any situation knowing what is to be done, I am not positioning my heart to hear the Lord’s direction. My knowing is deafness because knowing is telling, not listening or hearing. This is a travesty because it prevents me from enjoying His Life.

Jesus said to them, “I assure you that the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.
John 5:19 PHILLIPS

Christ lived His Life listening to His Father. He did nothing that He didn’t see the Father doing. And what we know of Jesus, all He did was through listening not knowing. And today He wants to do the same through me.

Life isn’t about listening to do, per se; it is listening to activate my volitional will in order to be surrendered to His Will and Life. He wants my will yielded to His Will to choose His Will, not to perform His Will. Remember: Christ’s life as my life is His life in my life, and that’s not my life as His life, it’s HIM. My attentiveness to His voice by listening not knowing is for surrender, agreement, and volition –not doing. He is the Doer and I am the listener. I hear what He wants to do and how He wants to do it.

Example of Listening not Knowing

On to the server transfer example. The main work of the transfer was complete and it looked like it was all ease and friendliness. I even posted on Facebook just before going to bed to thank everyone for praying. It looked like the smoothest transition ever. But at 4 AM the next morning, I was quantifiably shown to be wrong. When I checked everything, it was all upside down. I was at a complete loss. I had no idea what to do! I just sat there, mind running a million miles an hour, trying to figure it out. “Who do I call? What do I do? Where do I start?”

“STEP AWAY FROM THE WEBSITES!”

I had to leave because I was running in with a load of potential solutions of what I could do, when I needed nothing but His Voice and Will. In the thick of the mayhem, I actually had to shut down my computer, get in the car, and drive to a place I could park and stare.

When I came back to the computer, I had a new sense of purpose. I was able to systematically dismantle the issues. And when I needed a running mate, my friend jumped in with the same listening not knowing approach. This isn’t an anomaly; this is Jesus’ intended approach for us. Christ lived this way when He was on this earth and now He wishes to live this way in us as well.