The three H’s? What are they? Great question—glad you asked? The three H’s are three words that describe a person whom God is using. The first ‘H’ is “hear”. The person who is greatly used of the Lord first has to hear the promptings and instruction from the Lord regarding how they are to be used. Time and again the Old Testament gives us examples of people being told to “Hear the word of the Lord.” Jeremiah 2: 4 (NIV) tells us “Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, all you clans of the house of Israel.” A servant must hear the words of his master if he is to be obedient and do the work of the master. In the same way, a person who is to be used by God for a specific purpose must hear God’s call and instruction. But you can’t stop with just hearing.
Once a person hears the “word” or the instructions of the Lord, they must then do the 2nd ‘H’ and that is to “heed”. The word ‘heed’ means to “give serious attention to”. We hear so many things in our daily lives but only a small portion of them do we give serious attention. Once God speaks a word of instruction into the heart of a person and they hear that instruction, then the person greatly used by God gives serious attention to that word. Exodus 15:26 (NAS) speaks of heeding the words of the Lord, “And He said, ” If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer.”
Finally, let’s see that the person greatly used of by the Lord not only hears the word of the Lord and heeds the word of the Lord, but they also “hasten” to do what the Lord asks. They don’t stand around and ponder the timing or try to figure out all the ramifications and angles. They simply do what God has instructed them to do. God’s timing is always perfect, therefore, we are released from trying to ascertain when is the right time to do what God has instructed us to do. As the Nike slogan says, “Just do it.” Delayed obedience to the call of God is disobedience. The Psalmist knew the three H’s I feel sure. He says in Psalm 119:60, “I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands.”
Dear friend, do you want to be someone who is greatly used by God? I do, and my guess is that you do as well. It is my prayer that you and I will “hear”, “heed”, and “hasten” to do the will of our Lord this week.
