As you may know, I’m working once again this summer in the Summer Institute of Linguistic’s Second Language Acquisition course. I’m working with 8 students along with a friend and speaker of Iraqi Arabic, Wafaa (who I met last year). I also have the opportunity to work 5-7 hours a week one-on-one with Wafaa my personal growth in Arabic.
Though we expose the students to a variety of approaches to language learning, we model a specific method during the lab times throughout the nine-week program. The creator of this method coined a phrase that everyone chuckles at initially, but begins to understand deeply as we put it into practice: “listening furiously.”
We often think of listening as a passive activity. We listen to music in the background, we listen to people tell us their problems, we listen to the sound of crickets on a summer night. “Furious” listening, though, is a much more “active activity.” When I tell my students, “Remember to listen” in our language group, I’m emphasizing the importance of putting 100% of their attention and focus on what the speaker is saying.
Unfortunately, we often take the passive approach to our listening to God’s Spirit. We wait around, expecting that if He wants to say something to us, He’ll do it in a clear, loud, English voice. The reality, though, is that sometimes God’s “still, small voice” comes through in a way we don’t understand from the start. We need to practice listening, and do it “furiously.” We need to play close attention to what He has to say to us.
Today, consider that He desires to speak to you. Take on an active stance in your listening. Put your full attention on Him. Don’t just wait. Listen furiously.