Observing three small grandchildren across the street I see
that they often have a hearing problem. They don’t hear their mother when she
calls them to supper, calls them to come in or calls them to get back in their own
yard. It seems that the ability to hear is closely tied to the enjoyment they
are having at the time they are called.
Playing in the creek or over at the neighbor’s house finds them totally
deaf!
Then there’s the bone structure problems they have. No
kidding! Call them home and they go limp and can barely walk. Tell them they can’t
have ice cream till after supper and they almost crawl away from the
refrigerator, arms hanging limply in front of them and their heads bent nearly
to their chests.
Of course as people grow up they begin to respond much
quicker to instruction and don’t display the skeletal problems children so
often do. I mean we’re grownups, so we
are quick to obey and walk away from things without giving it a second thought.
Right?
God speaks to my heart. It’s pretty easy to ignore God’s
voice. We find ourselves in complete abandon to something we enjoy and He
speaks softly into our hearts, “Come back to Me”, we flick a hand at our ear
and go right back to our fun. We lose
our temper and stay mad and we hear “something” like “really is that the way
you should behave?” and we want the anger more than the obedience. We may feel our hearts being tugged to
missionary work, changing jobs, checking on a neighbor, giving an extra dollar.
The list goes on. We weigh the situation and often find that we’d just rather
not listen to the still small voice trying to woo us to obedience.
We forget that obedience garners reward. Oh not always
immediately, but reward does come for those who obey God’s still small voice. There’s
punishment for the disobedient as well. Now children usually get grounded or
get a spanking for their disobedience. But we believers are punished much worse
I do believe. Because eventually we’re going to feel the Holy Spirit’s sting of
conviction. We’re going to come to ourselves and realize we’ve messed up. And
then we run home to the Father asking His forgiveness and praying that we haven’t
lost complete touch with Him.
Just like a child must be trained to walk in obedience to
their parents, we believers must train ourselves to walk in obedience to our
Heavenly Father. We’re born again, we belong to the Family of God, but we have
to learn to “act like it”. We have to train ourselves to listen for God’s voice
and quickly follow, quickly answer, quickly respond. I am still learning to hear Him, how about
you?
Oh beloved, what a blessed child of God you are! Not only
were you placed into an earthly family, with teaching, learning and growing,
you were placed in God’s family! You have a Father who loves you
unconditionally, the Son who obeyed all the way to the Cross for your
disobedience and the Holy Spirit who keeps you able to listen to God the rest
of your lives! God knows the problems
you encounter every day. There are so many things that would steal your joy,
steal your heart and cause you to go deaf! But if you will trust the Lord and
train yourself to listen to Him, you will find increased strength, increased
stamina and multiplied joy and blessings! If you’ve found yourself in the
wilderness of disobedience and you’ve quit hearing anything, today is your day
to return Home to the Father! He is waiting outside your heart’s door to take
you in immediately! He’s been searching for you as though you were a lost child
out of earshot. He’s been calling you to repentance, which simply put is
turning from your own desires to return to His fellowship!
Oh beloved, run to His Word this morning and hear Him speak:
“I love you and I AM for you and that’s what you always need to remember to
love Me, obey Me and live for Me alone”.
1 Samuel 15:22 Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in
burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to
obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
James 1:25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law,
the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but
an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.
Isaiah 30:21 Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is
the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.
Psalm 86:11 Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your
truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.
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