Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul, according to the instructions of Psalm 25 How do we lift up our soul? The answer is to put other thoughts and feelings aside and focus your mind and heart on Jesus and who He is. Our fallen nature wants to be preeminent, the boss who controls us, but God leads us beside still waters where we let the presence of the Lord dominate. The first step that Habakkuk takes in chapter 2 in order to hear God is to get alone on his post to seek God. Jesus calls this going into your room and shutting the door
Psalm 37:7 tells us to “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.” God promises he will renew the strength of those who wait for Him. Even Jeremiah reminds us that those who seek Him with all their heart will find Him, how much more does this principle apply to seeking to hear His voice. We show how much we really want to hear from God by our taking time to get still before Him and patiently wait.
Shut the door. What does Jesus mean by this action? Does He not tell us to clean our plate of all our other thoughts and desires, to deliberately lay them down. God honors our choices, our decisions. As Romans 8:13 states “put to death the flesh by the power of the Spirit.” Therefore, ask and depend on the Holy Spirit to help you lay aside anything and everything that wants your attention so you can receive what the Lord wants to say to you.
We will consider the next step, expecting Him to speak, in future posts, but today prepare your mind and heart to find a place and time where you can be still and know He is.
Getting to this ready state is such an important one if you are serious about wanting to hear God. If you need more encouragement, do a concordance or google search on “waiting on the Lord.” Psalm 62:5, for example, states, “For God alone, O my soul (your mind, will, and emotions), wait in silence, for my hope is from Him.
