A farmer from middle America was walking in downtown New York City alongside a resident friend.

As they approached a busy street corner in the center of Manhattan, the farmer seized his friend’s arm and whispered, “Wait. I hear a cricket.”

“Come on!”, the city boy sneered, “This is downtown New York. How could you possibly hear a cricket?”

His friend persisted, however, “No, seriously, I do!”

As cars were roaring, horns honking, people shouting, brakes screeching, cash registers clanging, subway clamoring and people bustling about, the farmer began leading his friend along slowly, every now and again stopping and turning his ear toward the seemingly noiseless sound. At last, the farmer followed the sound across the street and toward a small dark corner next to a graffiti-covered wall.

There, he bent down to a minuscule tuft of grass and pulled out the cricket. “I told, you”, he said, “I heard a cricket.”

Astounded, the New Yorker marveled “How could you have heard that cricket in the middle of all this noise?”

“Well”, said his friend, “My ears are different from yours. It simply depends on what you’re listening to. Here, let me show you what I mean.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of change: a couple of quarters, three or four nickels, and a dime and a few pennies.

“Now,” he said, “watch this.”

He held the coins waist high and dropped them to the sidewalk. At once, every head within nearly a block turned around and looked in the direction of the farmer.

“You see, it all depends on what you’re listening to.”

To what sounds are our ears trained to listen?

Are they trained to hear the sound of money, of gossip, of complaining, of worldly things or are they trained to hear the still small voice of the Most High, directing and advising us in the way we should go?

Let’s ask the Lord to train our ears to hear the things of God today. We need to be listening for His direction in the hustle and bustle of this noisy and influential world or we will surely go astray!

Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. 1Kings 19:11-12

–by George Whitten