Just Listen

Having recently published a little book that’s been on my desktop since 2023, I thought it might be good to condense its heartbeat to a 300-word summary ...

As disciples, pastors are not essentially seers, but hearers, and this was the case long before Jesus came.

Abraham set out "not knowing where he was going" and became the father of a faith that comes by hearing.

But like Adam and Eve in the beginning, Abraham’s nephew didn’t quite get it. Lot lusted for the lush, went solely with his eyes, and ended up in Sodom.

Moses never got to see God's face but instead sat listening in His presence ... and stepped out with the Shema, "Hear, O Israel!”

When Jesus eventually came, He identified His flock as His ekklesia, or "called out ones," those who "hear My voice."

Simon Peter saw Jesus walking on the water but couldn't leave the boat until the Master spoke: "Come!"

And as Peter gazed on the most spectacular visual anyone could hope to see - The Transfiguration - he had to be interrupted mid-sentence by a Voice from heaven … “This is My beloved Son … Listen to Him!”

The blind were healed by the spoken word. Dead Lazarus heard the voice of the Son of God and lived. Mary thought she was speaking to the gardener until the Voice opened her eyes.

The order has been the same since light first appeared, only because it was spoken into being.

Paul explained that “we walk by faith, not by sight,” and John began the last book of the Bible with the sevenfold repetition of the same command that laces the Gospels: "He who has an ear, let him hear."

In days of darkness and confusion it's not what we see, but what we hear, that will see us through.

If you’d like to go deeper, Just Listen is now available on Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/8rPRVdv

Alistair Matheson