When Moses entered the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim. He spoke to him [that way]. (7: 89). When Moses died and God wrote his obituary He summed up his life saying: No prophet has arisen again in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face (Deut. 34: 10). In the crucible of crisis [T]he LORD spoke with Moses face to face, just as a man speaks with his friend (Ex. 33: 11). When Moses’ authority was challenged by those closest to him, God’s affirmation was: I speak with him directly (literally, “mouth to mouth”) (Num. 12: 8). Listening was a trademark of Moses. He knew how to speak to God but he also knew how to listen.
I suspect Moses learned to listen in the desert before returning to confront Pharaoh. Long hours with the livestock gave him quite an opportunity to enroll in the school of God’s quiet but quite persuasive voice. It was a discipline that would serve him well for the final four decades of life.
Nothing serves us better than the ability to hear God distinctly. In a world of competing and conflicting voices within and without the child of God wisely cultivates the heart and art of listening. Nothing else is of greater consequence. If Moses had not listened to God, Israel would have had no Exodus, no water, no Commandments and no Tabernacle and we would have no Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
The question of which is more important – speaking to God or listening to Him – is quickly resolved by asking who is greater – the one praying or the One hearing the prayer? Whatever God has to say is vastly more important than what I have to say. That is why He gave us a thick Bible and why He demands we study it’s every page. We are to scour the Scriptures permitting God’s Voice to penetrate our dullness as we seek to nurture the skill of hearing our God. What greater compliment could be paid our prayer life than for others to be able to say, “When he entered to speak with the Lord, he heard the Lord speaking to him?”