One of the most difficult things to figure out in a society that never stops talking is who we should actually be listening to. When surrounded by noise listening takes effort, it requires commitment; in what sounds like an oxymoron there is a need to hear less so that we can listen more. It’s not about deciphering, decoding or translating, it’s not trying to solve a mystery or put together a puzzle, listening is about setting our attention on one voice in the midst of many noises. Listening is an act of affection, intimacy and relationship. Jesus said in John 10:27 “My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.” That is relationship language, Jesus wasn’t saying that the test of His sheep was if they could pick His voice out of a crowd like a witness looking at a lineup, He was revealing that His sheep are those that live with Him, long for Him and are always listening not for, but to Him. Jeremiah 29:11 is possibly the most quoted verse in the Old Testament. It is a beautiful promise of God’s love and care, “For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” As much as we quote this and as much as we hold onto it and try to apply it to each of our own situations, do we know the context of it? Jeremiah 28 tells us about a false prophet named Hananiah who was telling the people of Judah that their recent defeat to Babylon and the captivity of their king, his wife, the priests, prophets, princes and all their attendants would be brief because God was going to soon “break the yoke of the king of Babylon”. Apparently Hananiah’s prophesies were not only being believed by those remaining in Jerusalem but his words had been spread all the way to those who were being held captive in Babylon. Jeremiah 29 tells us about a letter that Jeremiah wrote to the captives in Babylon. I know that I’ve mentioned this often, but this means that the first time these words were ever heard it was by a group of people hearing a letter that was written not to each of them but to all of them, this promise is not yours or mine to hold onto it was theirs to share. Jeremiah wrote, beginning in verse 10, “For thus says the LORD, ‘When 70 years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.’” The captives had to decide who they would listen to; would they trust the voice of God or would they listen to the voice that was offering them what they desired? Hananiah was speaking to their situation, God, through Jeremiah was speaking to their relationship and was speaking about His character. We are a divided people today. We have suffered through an election cycle that has been ruthless and divisive. Many of us naively believed that once the election was over that the divisiveness, fear and rhetoric would be over as well. I shared two weeks ago that an election does not set the course of a nation, it reveals the heart of a nation. Our heart has been revealed which is painful to see but at the same time since it can no longer be hidden, covered over or explained away it now must be dealt with. The good news is that we are the ones who are called to deal with it! We are the ones called to be peace-makers, ministers of reconciliation and ambassadors for Christ. The problem is that peace is made, reconciliation is administered and Christ is represented by a people who are “quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry”. We have a king who listens and the only way to live in His character, extend His kingdom and be witnesses to His glory is to listen to Him, listen to each other and even listen to the world we have been sprinkled in the midst of. No one hears the words of a person that doesn’t listen and no one of us can be like Christ without being willing to listen.