Article September 13, 1969 Issue

To Hear God, We Must Listen

JACQUETTA BIRCH

A Christian Science Sunday School teacher told her class how Joseph, warned of the danger King Herod's decree held for the infant Christ Jesus, fled with his little family into Egypt. A seven-year-old asked, "Why didn't God tell the other people that soldiers would be coming, so they could have saved the other babies too?" Another child immediately replied, "He did tell them. He was telling them all the time. They just weren't listening."

They weren't listening! Through the years since that Sunday morning the truth of the child's answer has been a warning guide to the teacher. In a world where every hour seems to be filled with a cacophony of conflicting voices, she has often asked herself, "Am I listening to God?"

The Bible tells us little about Joseph. He was caught up in tremendous events, but of his hopes and fears we know little. No word of his is recorded; and, except for a brief reference to the family's visit to Jerusalem for the Passover, on only a few occasions does he emerge from obscurity. But on each he was found listening for the Word of God. And his obedience to that directing voice had a profound effect on the history and development of mankind. He withstood the harsh conventions of his race by taking Mary as his wife. And he obediently made the journey into Egypt and, later, back again.

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