As I was sitting at my desk, my cell phone rang. I looked down to see the number and it was definitely a telemarketer, so I didn’t answer it.

The reason I had my landline disconnected was that the only people who ever called me on it was these telemarketers and I was paying for that to happen.

The truth is that most of the time, what determines whether or not we answer our phones is who is calling.

Several years ago, I had a friend who was calling another friend as he pulled up next to him at a traffic light. The friend getting the call didn’t notice the other friend there, and the friend making the call watched his friend pick up the phone, look at who was calling and then lay it back in the seat beside him.

The man making the call honked the horn and shrugged his shoulders as to say, "What’s up with that?" He didn’t let that one go for a while.

When God speaks to us, are we listening and do we really want to talk to him? Do we consider him important enough to answer?

In Proverbs 1:24-25, the writer refers a voice of wisdom who speaks out with this reprimand: "I have called and you refused to listen."

According to the book of James, true wisdom comes from God. So when you reject wisdom, you actually are rejecting God himself.

Many think that what God offers is not important. So when he speaks to them through his word or through his spirit or through other people, they are not going to be willing to receive it.

We live now in a time of grace where the Lord is willing to meet every person’s spiritual need for salvation through Jesus Christ. He wants to answer our prayers and to see us all come into a relationship with him.

Scripture reveals there will be a time when it will be too late to call upon him. In verse 28 of the same chapter in Proverbs, we are told, "Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me."

The big question is: Is it that important to you as God calls?