God Speaking

“…and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him…”

(Deuteronomy 30: 20)

A very thought-provoking cartoon appeared on my Facebook page last week that I was glad someone had posted. It featured two churches side by side and at the front of the first one, appeared the title for the Sunday sermon;

Come and Hear What God Wants to Say to You

In front of the second was this title for the Sunday sermon

Come and Hear What You Want God to Say to You. 

The first church had nobody entering, the second had a stream of church members lining up to go in.

Perhaps that points out what is happening to our own modern-day attitude to what we expect God to do for us, rather than to listen to him and obey his law.

Heeding what God had said in his law, given to the Children of Israel, was their greatest problem and a wonderful wake up call for us all. Over and over again the Israelites disobeyed God and landed themselves in all sorts of trouble. They were no longer listening to his word let alone heeding the wisdom that word held for them. One of my favourite stories in the Old Testament, is the story of the young king Josiah who thought he was living the way God had ordained until an amazing discovery was made by his servants while renovating the temple, in some dusty corner they found ancient scrolls, long hidden from sight and when they took them to the high priest, he discovered they were actually God’s sacred word. 

When the high priest took the scroll, and read it to Josiah, he was overcome with incredible grief that he and his people had drifted away from God because they had not been reading or heeding God’s word.

“When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes.”  (2 Kings 22:11)

He ordered all the people to be gathered together and asked the priest to read God’s word aloud to all of them, so they could listen and heed what he was saying to them.  A great revival in honouring God was the result.

The other story I like is the one about the little boy Samuel who hears somebody calling him, but does not recognise God’s voice until the priest tells him this;

“Then Eli realised that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down and if he calls you say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3: 8 – 9)

Samuel did so and listened and became a mighty prophet for the Lord

Unfortunately, sometimes our prayers resemble more these words, Listen Lord while your servant speaks!

Solomon knew the wisdom of practising listening skills and writes in the first chapter of Proverbs this good advice for us;

“let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance” (Proverbs 1: 5)