Listening, Genesis, & Faith

Hearing is not the same as listening (If one has children, this is painfully obvious). For instance, when we fail to understand someone’s speech due to it being too softly or too quickly spoken, do we respond with “I can’t listen to you?” Of course not! A failure to hear, or to be unable to successfully intake aural communication is typically conveyed as some form of the phrase “I can’t hear you.”

The Bible also recognizes the same difference between hearing and listening. Consider a few examples from Genesis:

• Adam “heard” the sound of the LORD God moving through the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3.8, 10)
• Abram “heard” that his nephew Lot had been taken captive by Chedorlaomer & co. following a battle in the valley of Siddim (Gen. 14.14)
• Pharaoh calls for Joseph to be brought from prison after having “heard” that Joseph was a person who could interpret dreams (Gen. 41.14-15)

In all these cases, information was successfully conveyed to Adam, Abram, and Pharaoh, which they then acted upon, whether to hide, deliver, or summon. This is in keeping with Paul’s usage of the idea in Romans 10.14b: “How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?”

Listening is another matter. If hearing is input, then listening involves the output, or the response to what has been heard. Adam “heard” God making His way though the Garden and hid himself. Abram “heard” that Lot had been taken and summoned his fighting men to accompany him for rescue. Pharaoh heard that Joseph could interpret dreams, and immediately has Joseph removed from prison and brought to him.

Consider a few more cases from Genesis:

• Gen. 3.17: Adam “listened” to the voice of his wife when he ate of the forbidden Tree.
• Gen. 23.15-16: Abraham “listened” to Ephron the Hittite’s price of 400 shekels of silver for the Cave of Machpelah
• Gen. 42.21-22: Joseph’s brothers lament not listening to the begging voice of Joseph, & Reuben reminds them that they “did not listen” to his words (i.e. they did not respond to them).

In all these cases, listening involved the response to information gathered via hearing. When one accepts and acts upon what they have heard, they are said to have “listened”. On the other hand, when one refuses to accept and act upon what they have heard, they have “not listened”. It is in this line of thinking that Jesus employs in Luke 10.16: “The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.” (NASB)

However, one will notice that not all listening (or refusals to listen) ends on equal terms. Adam’s response to hide was for fear of God due to his newfound nakedness, which came on account of his refusal to listen to God’s instructions in Gen. 2.16-17. Abram’s response to Lot’s capture was certainly positive, as was Pharaoh’s summoning of Joseph. Joseph’s brothers refusing to listen to Joseph’s pleas resulted in years of slavery and imprisonment in Egypt. AT the very least, one can conclude that not all listening is the same. Genesis also shows us that to WHOM one listens matters greatly!

• Adam listened to Eve’s offer of the forbidden fruit rather than God’s command (Gen. 3.17)
• Abram listened to Sarai’s proposal to sire a child with Hagar rather than God’s promise of a child with Sarai (Gen. 16.2)
• Joseph did not listen to Potiphar’s wife, due to his submission to God (Gen. 39.10)

The challenge that Genesis, and indeed the rest of scripture, poses to us is a simple one: Will we listen to God, or will we listen to the world around us? It is this challenge that the Jews of Jesus’ day had failed. In John 8, Jesus is engaged in conversation with a group of contentious Jews when He says “I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.” (v.38, NASB). Rather than listen to God (as Jesus did), the Jews had chosen instead to reject Jesus, and in so doing heeded instead the words of Satan (v.38). Further, Jesus identifies the reason why they would not hear His, and in so doing God’s, words: “Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” (v.47). If we refuse to listen to God, we are not of God!

If this conversation sounds like discussions you’ve heard about faith, it should. Listening IS faith!
As is true with children is true with scripture: Unless one believes and acts on what they have “heard”, neither listening nor faith has occurred. To see this more clearly, notice how the Hebrew writer connects scenes from the Genesis account when those involved listened to God with the concept of faith:

• Noah
  • Gen. 6.22: “Noah did this; he did all that the LORD commanded.” (ESV)
  • Heb. 11.7: “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” (NASB)
• Abraham
  • Gen. 12.4: “So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him.” (ESV)
  • Heb. 11.8: “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.” (NASB)
• Joseph
  • Gen. 50.24-25: “Joseph said to his brothers, ’I am about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.’ Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, ‘God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here.’” (NASB)
  • Heb. 11.22: “By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones.” (NASB)

In all cases, the faithful of Hebrews 11 responded to what they heard, whether it be instructions to build a boat, leave their hometown, or trust in God’s promises, with action! The choice was the same for Isaac’s generation, Jacob’s generation, and Joseph’s generation: Would they listen, or refuse to listen?

We have the same choice today. The promise of eternal life through the gospel of Jesus Christ has been repeated in every generation since Calvary. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Rom. 10.17 NASB) We must choose to listen to God and refuse to listen to the world around us. If one would obey the gospel message, they must imitate the behavior of the Ethiopian Eunuch of Acts 9.

“In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory. (Eph. 1.13-14 NASB)