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Now Jesus turned to the people again and told them this story: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenant farmers, and moved to another country to live for several years. At the time of the grape harvest, he sent one of his servants to collect his share of the crop. But the farmers attacked the servant, beat him up, and sent him back empty-handed. So the owner sent another servant, but they also insulted him, beat him up, and sent him away empty-handed. A third man was sent, and they wounded him and chased him away.” (Luke 20:9–12 NLT)
After Jesus deflected the trap set by the religious leaders, He follows up with a parable about vineyard farmers who refuse to listen when the owner of the land sends representatives, even his son. Instead, they react violently toward the servants and kill the son. The owner of the vineyard responds by killing those farmers and leasing the land to others. This is certainly a parable about the nation of Israel and how they treated God’s proxies, the prophets and His son, Jesus. It’s also a warning about rejecting God’s prompting.
When we practice the discipline of listening to God—when we are constantly keeping one ear attune to His voice, like the mother who is constantly aware of her child playing in the next room or the man attentively waiting for an important phone call—we are more likely to recognize His voice. This is not as difficult as we make it out to be, but it frightens us. If we are constantly aware of when God is speaking into our lives, when He asks us to do something we will either act or rebel; we will no longer have the poor—and wrongheaded—excuse of ignorance. Practice this discipline today by keeping some of your attention to the Holy Spirit working within you. The more you become aware of God’s prompting, the easier it becomes to notice it and follow wherever He may lead you. This is prayer in its truest essence.
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Hearing God is not all that difficult. If we know the Lord, we have already heard His voice – after all it was the inner leading that brought us to Him in the first place. But we can hear His voice and still miss His best if we don’t keep on listening.
—Loren Cunningham
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