Hush and Listen

Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 NIV

Ecclesiastes 5:2 jumped off the page at me. I realized it referred to public prayer, but how often did my private prayer time consist of me doing all the talking? I determined I would spend time listening.

“Ok, God any time now…Hey God, what do you have for me?... Here I am, attentive.”

About that time a text came through, “Hey, you want to go to a movie?” My answer, “Sure.”

“Well, God if you are not going to speak, guess I’ll go to a movie,” I told him.

Fast forward to the movie. 10:30 AM, my friend and I the only ones in the theater, a young man comes by to ask us if we wanted to order any food. Somehow, we ended up telling him how she had just texted me to come join her and I jumped up and came. He responded how he wished he had friends like that.

I told him she and I met at church. He mentioned he had not been to church in a long time. Before it was all said and done, we knew his name, had invited him to church, and had given him the details about its location and times. He commented if there were more people like the two of us there, he really wanted to try it out.

My mind immediately went back to sitting on my bed “waiting” for God to speak. I realized that “Hey, you want to go to a movie?” was God-ordained even though I did not understand it in the moment. He wanted us there to share with this young man.

God had surely answered my prayer. He spoke.

God, thank you for giving us the opportunity to be where you could use us. Help us to know when to speak and when to listen.

Susan Partida