2014-0204 - attend, incline, keep

When God Speaks...    People Listen

Do you ever find yourself wondering why people are talking?  What they are saying?  And, wondering if you’ve missed something important?  That’s the difference between hearing sounds and actively listening to words.

All too often I find myself in the position of knowing that someone is talking but not really paying attention to what they are saying.  Some people talk all the time and never say anything uplifting, or edifying; sometimes it’s too easy let my mind wander off and think about something else.  It’s an absolute truth that I need to guard my mind from certain things and certain people; but I really need to be an active listener when it comes to the things of God...

Proverbs 4:20-22 (KJV) - My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.  Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.  For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

God, our Father, tells to listen to Him, how we should listen, and why we should listen to Him.

First, The Lord acknowledges our kinship to Him.  He calls us his sons (and daughters).  We are his children, adopted into the family of God, through the life giving blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  That’s nothing to sniff at.  The most powerful God, Creator of the Universe, has adopted us into His family.  We are children of The King, joint heirs with Christ, and sons (and daughters) of the one and only almighty God.

He instructs us to attend to – or pay attention to – His words.  That requires that we do more than hear sounds.  We need to listen closely to His words, determine what He is saying, discern why He says it, and consider how He wants His words to change our lives.  God never speaks idly; His Word is always intentional; and His Word will always make a change in the lives of those that truly listen.

Gods Words are so much higher than our understanding.  We need to change our posture and our position if we really want to know what He is saying to us individually.  He says that we should incline (or lift up) our ears to His sayings.  Think about the way you usually listen to sounds; you don’t usually lift up your head and seek out each, and every, sound you hear; you would be exhausted by the end of the day if you spent that much effort listening to every little sound.  But, when we listen to God, we need to stop what we are doing and change the way we listen.  We must lift our ears up to His voice, and actively listen for the message He has prepared for us.

God admonishes us that we should not let His words depart from our eyes; we need to be in our Bibles each, and every, day.  I am one of those people that learns best when I can both hear the spoken words and see the printed words at the same time.  Yes, sometimes there are instances where I just stop and listen to people; but if they really want me to retain what they’ve said, they’ll want me to be taking notes during the conversation.  (Sounds like I’m one of those chronic note takers, huh?)

He also teaches that we need to hide His words in the midst of our hearts.  We need to memorize scripture, and we need to meditate on scripture, so we’ll know how to behave when we don’t have time to look needed verses in scripture.  In other words, stock the mind with the food it needs ahead of time; we don’t always have time to run and look up the right scriptures when a circumstance arises.  We don’t want to be in the position that we’re wondering what to during those trials, during those times when we are highly tempted to sin.

God tells us that His words are life unto those who find them and health to all our flesh.  If we regularly feast our ears and our eyes on Gods words, they will make our lives worth living and they will help us make right decisions so we won’t have to suffer the consequences of poor choices.

My prayer for today…  Thank you, Lord, for acknowledging me as Your daughter.  Thank you for the gift you’ve given us here in this country, that we are able to assemble for the purpose of hearing the gospel, that we are allowed to openly read the Bible, and that you have protected our freedoms in this country.  Help me, Lord, to listen attentively and to meditate on Your Words that I may discern the lessons you have prepared for me.