Give Me a God-Listening Heart

A Bible Verse for Church Leaders in 2025

I must admit I’m not a big New Year’s resolution kind of guy. I don’t usually pick a “word of the year” or have something ready when people ask “What’s your New Year’s resolution?” But I do have a Bible verse for this year.

It fell into my lap on my daily Bible reading this week. I just started 1 Kings a few days ago. I’ve been doing my daily reading in The Message and I love how this translation can transform a familiar verse into something new and vibrant.

Yesterday I was reading 1 Kings 3. Solomon navigated a tricky situation with his brother (Old Testament siblings are the worst) and was crowned the King of Israel and Judah. He heads to Gibeon to worship God and that night God appears to him in a dream:

God said, “What can I give you? Ask.”

Solomon said, “You were extravagantly generous in love with David my father, and he lived faithfully in your presence, his relationships were just and his heart right. And you have persisted in this great and generous love by giving him—and this very day!—a son to sit on his throne.

“And now here I am: God, my God, you have made me, your servant, ruler of the kingdom in place of David my father. I’m too young for this, a mere child! I don’t know the ropes, hardly know the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of this job. And here I am, set down in the middle of the people you’ve chosen, a great people—far too many to ever count.

“Here’s what I want: Give me a God-listening heart so I can lead your people well, discerning the difference between good and evil. For who on their own is capable of leading your glorious people?”

1 Kings 3:5-9 (MSG)

A God-Listening Heart

When I think of Solomon, I think of his wisdom. According to this translation, Solomon’s wisdom flowed from his ability to listen to God.

Church leaders in the United States are in a season of dramatic change. We are leading in a context of political uncertainty. We are leading organizations that function dramatically different than they did in recent memory. Many of our congregations are declining in membership and financial giving. Spiritual practices and spiritual identity are no longer tied to religious affiliation. In other words, we’re leading in a season of change and uncertainty.

Instead of listening to our instincts, to the ministry playbooks of the early 2000’s, or to the loudest church members, what would it look like to lead your church with a God-listening heart in 2025?

Perhaps it’s reading scripture a little more and scrolling on social media a little less. Perhaps it is encouraging your leadership teams to take more time to pray before making important decisions in the life of the congregation. Perhaps it will require shedding some extra ministry weight (ending a program, asking someone to help with an administrative task, saying no to a new proposal) so you can have more quiet time with God.

Now is the time for big, bold changes in the way we do church. The decisions we make in 2025 will impact our congregations and denominations for generations to come. Let us make these decisions with wisdom, discernment, and most of all with God-listening hearts.

Let us pray: “Give me a God-listening heart so I can lead your people well, discerning the difference between good and evil. For who on their own is capable of leading your glorious people?”