Listening for God

I have been enjoying the weekly meetings at which we have undertaken The Prayer Course. The group has been small; usually about ten in attendance, although last week there were thirteen. Slowly we have been considering different aspects of prayer with a focus on The Lord’s Prayer to guide us.

Last Wednesday we considered “listening”, which is probably what we do least in prayer. The line from The Lord’s Prayer was, “Give us today our daily bread.”

A number of years ago now, when I took a weekly service at Firbank Grammar School, I was asked to talk about The Lord’s Prayer. As we considered this line of the prayer, we appreciated that it wasn’t just about bread or even about food. The line helped us to focus on our dependence upon God and his many provisions – yes our food, but clean water, good medical care, our education, friendships and so on.

Something else that we must consider is how God communicates with us. We are dependent upon his word to us. There is his Word (the Bible), as well as advice from Christian friends and our own common sense. The presenter of the series, Pete Grieg, suggests that when listening to God we remember ABC – Advice, Bible, Common Sense.

“Give us today our daily bread” might mean we are eager and listening for God’s voice.

And we must also note that despite the fact that many of us say the prayer quietly and privately and individually, that the pro-nouns are plural. Give us today our daily bread. We might be praying for ourselves, but the prayer is for all humanity.

The Lord’s Prayer is a great prayer, but it is more than a list of requests. As we offer the prayer slowly, we will find God speaking to us. The challenge we ask ourselves: are we listening?
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Bless you as you listen