Joni And Friends Daily Devotional 3 July 2022 | Jesus’ Listening Ear

Joni And Friends Daily Devotional 3 July 2022 | Sunday Message

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TOPIC: Jesus’ Listening Ear

Joni And Friends Daily Devotional 3 July 2022 MESSAGE

I was sitting at my friend’s coffee table, wrestling with whether or not I should tell her about the depression that had gripped me for several days. I decided to open up. I told my friend I needed to share a problem. Did she have time to listen?

“Sure,” she said, and promptly rose to retrieve a whistling tea kettle from the stove. As she poured, I took a deep breath and started to unfold my situation.

“Milk in your tea?” she interrupted.

“Uh, sure,” I said.

“Now, what were you saying?” she asked, sipping her tea. I went on with my story. Midway, the phone rang. Her daughter called from the next room. “Mom! It’s Dad at the office.”

My friend sighed. “I’d better take that. I’ll be right back.”

• Joni And Friends Daily Devotional 3 July 2022

I waited, occasionally glancing at my watch. The longer she took, the more my hurt festered. When she came back into the kitchen, she babbled on about her conversation with her husband, having completely forgotten ours.

“Shall I warm your tea?” she asked, before sitting down.

No, I didn’t want any more tea. I just wanted her to listen. But at that point I wasn’t so sure I wanted to talk.

You’ve had it happen. You’ll be going through a heartache or period of loneliness, and you’ll want to tell a friend. Your phone calls, however, are persistently interrupted—or never returned. Or worse, you’ve drawn a friend aside to describe some of the things you’ve been going through and you get the distinct impression she or he is distracted, only half listening. You get little eye contact, and only a few, vague mumbled words for a reply.

Longing for counsel, you ask for advice and receive a shrug of the shoulders or a pat on the back and a “cheer up, chin up,” kind of reply. And you find yourself wondering, Does anybody really care about what I’m going through? Will anybody listen?

Jesus had the same thing happen to him. In Matthew 20:17-28, he and his disciples were on the road to Jerusalem. It would be his last earthly journey. He knew full well what awaited him at the end of the road.

Betrayal. A shameful trial. Brutal torture. A bloody cross. A lonely death on a dark afternoon. The sins of the world, of all time, dumped on his shoulders. Broken fellowship with his Father. The dread of it must have weighed heavier on his heart with each step.

He stopped and turned to his friends. He poured out his heart to them, telling them exactly what was going to happen to him when he passed through those city gates. Joni And Friends Daily Devotional 3 July 2022

Talk about unkind ears! The disciples not only ignored his troubled words, they turned right around and began arguing about who was going to be tops in the coming kingdom—who was going to get the head honcho job or the hot-shot seat near the throne. Two of them even sent their mother over to Jesus to argue their case. Unbelievable!

No kind words. No helpful advice. No sympathetic ears or compassionate hearts. The disciples, distracted and called away by their own ambition, were only half listening.

That may be the loneliest part of loneliness. Knowing that no one else really understands—or even cares—what you’re going through. Knowing that your burden of pain is yours alone. That’s the way it is sometimes, isn’t it? Friends won’t always be there. Or if they are, they may not always see past the surface. Others may be busy—justifiably so—or simply unavailable.

And there you are, carrying it all by yourself.

Thankfully, Jesus has been through it, too. He understands. He, too, knows what it feels like to have friends who can’t or perhaps don’t always care. So he’s the one who lends the sympathetic ear. His eye contact never falters. He will not be distracted from your cry. His heart is with yours in the middle of your pain.

“There is a friend,” Scripture reminds us, “who sticks closer than a brother” – Proverbs 18:24
I’ve never had a brother, but I have the Friend. His name is Jesus. He listens and he cares.

Thank you for reading Joni And Friends Daily Devotional 3 July 2022, Sunday