Did you ever try to tell someone something important but it seemed like they weren't listening?
A person recently asked me for advise because they were in the middle of a life crisis. I gave them good sound teaching and direction which I believe was a blessing from God for them. But, they acted like I was invisible. I could see God helping them, reaching out to them with the very solution they needed. But they were blind to it. A lot of parents feel this way with their teenagers. As a parent, you've been there. You know a bad decision from the right way, but... the kid still wants to discover the error on his own, (without your sound instruction.)
You can hear an airplane flying over, or a horn honking somewhere in the distance. But you are not listening for those things. Both hearing and listening are verbs, which means they are both an action. But the listening is more of an applied effort. It is diligent purposeful hearing plus "doing" afterward that completes the cycle of what is said.
I heard a preacher once say that 50% of the preaching is done by the listener. And that is true. Think about it. If the congregation is yawning away in the pew, then what good does the preaching do? Some preachers are very articulate, able to keep the listeners excited and awake. It would seem that they are doing a wonderful job preaching. But it is required of the listeners, that they take what was said and apply it to their lives. This is the fulfillment or completion of listening.
So listening requires a diligent action on the part of the hearer.
"22But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was." -James 1:22-24
It is important that we try to focus when what is being said is truth for our benefit. God wants to bless us. But sometimes we are too busy or distracted to receive that blessing.
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:" -Hosea 4:6
If we only knew what is was that God wanted to bless us with, then we would be more willing to listen and obey.
