The Devotional - 014 - Whose Listening!

A Thought for the Day – 014 – Whose Listening?

Psalm 100:3 – Psalm 100 gets a lot of attention at this time of the year and rightly so since verses four and five provide two reasons to be thankful to our Creator… Mercy and Truth is available to everyone and this drives me back to verse three. KNOW THAT THE LORD, HE IS GOD; it is He that has made us and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Apart from God; mercy and truth is relative; but with God – Absolute!

 

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On approach to the Long Beach Airport from a flight beginning at San Pedro, California; and at 15,000 feet, Lawrence Walters began shooting his pellet gun at the forty five weather balloons attached to his lawn chair. He successfully managed to down his makeshift aircraft but it did tangle up in some electrical wires causing a 20 minute blackout in a small Long Beach neighborhood. If you like you might read the whole story in Wikipedia. There is little comedy in the whole event, Larry was born on April 19, 1944 and died October 6, 1993 committing suicide. His life was one of trial and error so in time he just gave up.

One of the problems we face is the problem of listening to the voice of one in need. Here is how it goes. “Dad I had a great day at school today, I painted a nice picture of the mountains in our state, during gym I scored a goal in hockey and we had pizza for lunch. “Dad, did you hear me?” His father was intently reading the newspaper and replied; “O yes son I heard you; you painted a picture of the state’s mountains, scored a goal playing hockey and had pizza for lunch!”

“Yes” the boy replied, but that’s not it, you were listening with your ears but your eyes, you were not listening with your eyes”. This then is the fault of many parents; but it is not just in family relationships that this happens. In happens in fellowships, friendships and familiar people everywhere who get together.

Sometime we feel that it is this way with God as well, we call out to Him and it seems as if God does not hear and we say things to Him like; “LORD can’t you see what is going on here with me?” “It takes bravery, or maybe a lot of beer to strap your-self to a lawn chair and fly off into the wild blue” but it only takes a moment of selfishness to bring life to an end because the dreams of one’s life do not materialize. Also it takes bravery to tell your earthly father that he is not listening to you even though his ears hear you.

God hears every call of His children, not only with His ears, but also His eyes and His heart. We have His full attention. In Jeremiah 33:3 we read these words; “Call upon Me and I will answer you, and I show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” Fearing the LORD is not keeping silent, fearing the LORD is coming boldly to the throne of grace to find help in times of need. There is a time of need and no doubt you and I will have one today. In order for God to respond, we do need to be spiritual. For me this is seeking God with our whole heart, mind and soul.

James 4:7-10 – Therefore submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners and purify your hearts you double minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the LORD, and He will lift you up.