“At that time Jesus declared, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;'” -Matthew 11:25

Often times throughout the New Testament you will read passages that start off like this one does, “At that time Jesus declared….”

The King James Version uses “answered” in the place of “declared” which I believe would cause you to wonder who Jesus is talking to much more readily than “declared.”

Either way, Jesus is clearly having a conversation with someone. And if you take a look at the context of this passage (and others similarly phrased passages), you will notice that it doesn’t say who Jesus is responding to.

C.H. Spurgeon attributes this interesting phrasing to the fact that Jesus was so constantly in communication with the Father. God would speak things into Jesus’ heart and He would respond to that outwardly to the people He was with. It was the habit and life of Jesus to talk with God.

Jesus was in this world just as we are, and that should mean that we can have a similar conversational relationship with God the Father that Jesus had here on earth. May we also have silent fellowship with the Father so that we too can respond to God when He calls.

I encourage you to prepare yourselves. Prepare your ears and your heart to hear God’s still small voice in your life. Right now God is speaking to you, trying to have a conversation with you, and you can’t hear Him. Turn down the distractions in your own life and listen so when God speaks to us, like he did to Jesus, we may be prepared at once to answer Him.

Think about it.