It is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. (Heb. 5:11)
Expanded Passage: Hebrews 5:11-12
To truly listen is an exercise in letting go of our own ideas. The summer before my junior year of high school was a turning point in learning the art of listening, when I got the opportunity to participate in a program that taught me how to understand . . . or at least, the art of trying to understand.
“Find a partner,” our workshop instructor exclaimed, as each of us turned bashfully to and fro attempting to avoid being the last person still alone. I remember being asked to discuss a set of basic questions with the person I was paired with. What would follow was unexpected.
“As you listen, resist the urge to react or comment on what your partner is sharing.”
It felt unnatural at first, but when we were invited to turn to who we’d just spent our effort listening to, and recite what we heard them share, it made sense.
A gracious response is only half of what it takes to truly “try to understand.” The other half is to try hearing someone from their own perspective. Don’t settle for a relationship of rushing to react with your own ideas. Simply still yourself and take time to be with this God who is worth getting to know—one who hears our heart’s every desire and knows our head’s every hair. Yet how often do we pause and make the space to truly listen to him?
Take a moment to hear God from his perspective.
Amy Boyle lives in Indianapolis, where she’s a disciple, friend, and neighbor, an Indiana Wesleyan alum and twenty-something, passionate about knowing Jesus and making him known.
© 2026 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
