Attentive.

Have you ever heard the cooing of doves? It may be a sound that is not easily heard over the din of our day-to-day advances. The sound of a dove is soft and subtle. You almost have to purposely block out other sounds and events; it takes a purposeful focus of your attention on these soft-spoken birds in order to hear their sound.

Why does this matter? Our text for this weekend uses a word that is translated as “murmuring” or “complaining,” but it is an onomatopoeic word that could reflect the soft cooing of doves. This thought intrigues me because the term reflects a barely audible hush of a sound; it is not the proverbial “squeaky wheel that gets the grease.” It is not a type of complaining that is loud and boisterous. It seems to emanate from a person who is not bold enough to speak up in a public assembly. It implies someone who voices a frustration with a sigh, as if they believe no one would really care that they have been wronged. 

In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews [Greek Jews] among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. // Acts 6:1

This word, “murmur” or “complain,” along with its immediate context, indicates that someone’s needs are being neglected. An injustice has been done. The injustice is an oversight. The Greek widows have been overlooked in the daily distribution of food.

In the world of Jesus’ day, if a woman lost her husband, she was put in a rather perplexing situation because women had very limited opportunities to financially support themselves. If a widow was going to be taken care of, it was predominantly up to her family to find a way to support her needs.

The Greek widows were being overlooked, but there were other widows in the same congregation of believers whose needs were being fully met. And that is why the “cooing” of doves. These women were already under-privileged because of how society worked, but they were doubly frustrated because, in a Jewish culture, they were Greek. Their sex limited them, as well as their nationality.

They voiced their hurt in barely audible terms. But someone was listening. Someone was attentive. And this is the first key to understanding our text for today. Someone was listening to their hurt and was willing to stand on their behalf and ask for help. 

Don’t we all hope for someone to stand up to defend us, to bolster our strength if we are weak? Doesn’t every ounce of our being whimper just a little when we are in need and no one is listening to our hurt? These women whispered their hurt and someone who was listening turned up the volume of their injustice by speaking on their behalf to the disciples.

God is attentive to the fatherless and the widows and the hurting and the neglected among us. God attends to their cries and their whimpering and their secret moaning. He does not avoid the cry of the hurting because it might be an inconvenience; he would rather face the neglect and the inconvenience himself and set us free from our need. 

God does not avoid listening and hearing; his ears are perked up and ready to scan the airwaves for those who mourn the loss of work. He cares for those who are profoundly lost in their emotions or weary in their loneliness. He hears. And he engages his Church to listen as well as he does. 

It is a delicate skill to listen in the same way our Maker does. There is an intricacy to hearing out a person with fears of the future or guilt from their past. But as God’s children learn to admire their Heavenly Father in his care for humanity, they begin to display his image, an image awakened because it is planted deep inside of them by the Holy Spirit.

It is my prayer that God would raise the awareness of his children for the soft, hurting voices of this world’s lost and lonely souls. And if you are one of those who is too timid to vocalize your hurt, remember how the ear of the Lord is close to the brokenhearted. He listens attentively to your needs.

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are attentive to their cry. // Psalm 34:15

As we address this beautiful example of God’s caring heart displayed through the voices and actions of his people, may we also grow in the love and justice of our faithful God.

Blessings,
Pastor Al