Must I Listen?

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Who am I willing to listen to? God? or must He use an intermediary?

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Who Are We Listening to?
When was the last time you “talked” with God? Sure you may say, I had my devotions this morning and I prayed; but, did you listen for an answer and expect to get one? Or like the children of Israel, have you said to God; don’t speak to me, but, I’ll read what you have said through your servants.
Please turn with me to Ex. 20:19. “And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”
There are many who may say, “we cannot communicate directly with God, because our sin has cut off our connection to God. But Jesus came to this world and died on the cross to restore that communion between God and man. Listen to what the pen of inspiration says: “If we prayed as much as we ought to pray, if we realized that there is an open communication between us and God, we should be in an altogether different position than we are.” Through Jesus, we can once more communicate with God! Praise God!
Listen to what God says in Deuteronomy 5: 29 “O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!”
In his book, “My Utmost for His Highest,” Oswald Chambers makes the assertion that “we do not consciously disobey God; we simply do not heed Him.” That statement really made me stop to think. As a Christian, I profess to follow God and to keep His commandments, but often I find myself doing the things I know are wrong without even realizing that I have made a choice. The dictionary defines HEED as “to take notice of or to pay attention to. Why don’t we pay attention when God speaks to us? Could it be because we do not truly love and respect Him?
If I love my friend, I intuitively detect what he or she wants or needs. Many times I don’t even have to say a word to my wife, and she knows what I am thinking or what I need, because she is attentive to my welfare. Sometimes I get hiccups when I eat something dry and she always jumps up to get me a glass of water. Is that a chore for her? No, she helps me because she loves me and delights in doing even the little things to make me more comfortable.
Please turn with me to John 14:23 – 24. “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.”
God only wants our service of love, He NEVER compels or forces us to keep His commandments.
I show that I lack love and respect for God by the obtuseness of my heart and mind towards what He says. Obtuse means to be insensitive, blunt, or dull. If my mind is insensitive to the voice of God, could it be that I am not in the habit of listening for His voice? Could it be that I am not taking the time to read His word and really look at each page as a letter from a very special friend written especially to me? Perhaps at first reading, I decide that a certain story has nothing to do with my life. Should I skip that part of the Bible and say that it is not relevant to my life?
I remember from math class that obtuse is more than a 90 degree angle. God’s word is straight and to the point, but if my heart is not willing to surrender fully to Jesus, my sinful heart wants to deviate from the path of righteousness. Many times this leads us to do more than what God requires. The Jewish nation in Christ’s day was weighed down with so many man-made rules and regulations concerning the Sabbath that it became a curse and a yolk around their necks. They thought they could improve on a clear “Thus saith the Lord,” never realizing that “the joy of the Lord is our strength.”
We show how little we love God by preferring to listen to His servants only.
“And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” Exodus 20: 19. The awful majesty of the Lord on Mt. Sinai during the giving of the 10 commandments was a grand and solemn event. God wanted the people to know that He meant what He said and that He was to be reverenced and obeyed. Of course in God’s presence, no one could even think of sinning. Every mind and heart was opened to the eye of Jehovah, and every person present saw themselves as they really were; as sinners in need of a Saviour. This is always a painful revelation, because sin always paints us a pretty picture of our own condition. In effect, the people said to Moses, “We want you to speak to us, not God. It is painful to see ourselves as we really are. You are one of us and we are not afraid of you.” What happens when we shrink from seeing our true condition as reveal by our loving heavenly Father? What is the natural result of wanting to listen only to the servant?
Many times we feel it is not imperative to listen and obey the voice of the servant. If it cuts across my desires, that message is simply the servant’s own idea or interpretation of the word from God. I have sent one of my children to take a message to one of their siblings only to have them come back with the distressing news that the recipient would not accept the message as from Daddy, only from the brother or sister. Therefore, they saw no need to perform the task required. Is that how we treat the messages God has sent to us in His word, or in the Spirit of Prophecy books? After all, if we ignore the messenger, we can do what we want, right? We won’t be held accountable for light we have not received, will we? We feel we can pick and choose what comfortably applies to us. The truth is that in time, we will listen less and less to the servant if we ignore the voice of God pleading with our hearts.
We know that if God does speak, either the thing must be done or we must tell God we will not obey Him. Listen to the touching invitation of our Lord in Isaiah 55:1-3.
“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.”
Leave the broken cisterns of this world’s wisdom and determine to follow the Creator’s manual for the quenching of your thirst and the satisfaction of your soul! He never asks us to do anything bigger than the strength He has available for our immediate use! “As the will of man co-operates with the will of God, it becomes omnipotent. Whatever is to be done at His command may be accomplished in His strength. All His biddings are enablings.” COL 333. What a promise!
Perhaps it would be a good idea to practice the presence of Jesus. When you have a friend with you and you meet a group of your friends, don’t you introduce that friend to the group and include them in the conversation and the plans being made? Or do you ignore your friend, turn your back and forget that the friend is even there? If Jesus were standing beside you asking you to do something for “one of the least of these” would you tell Him “No” to His face? Not very likely. This involves trust, not only in stepping out of our comfort zone and being spent for God, but it also involves patience to wait if God is calling you to aide by His timing. This is a beautiful quote from the Desire of Ages. “When we learn the power of His word, we shall not follow the suggestions of Satan in order to obtain food or to save our lives. Our only question will be, What is God's command? and what His promise? Knowing these, we shall obey the one, and trust the other. DA 121.”
We must ask ourselves, “Am I putting God in the humiliating position of having treated me as a child of His while all the time I have been ignoring Him?” God has called us His children, giving us our work. Let’s see if there is a parallel between the predicament Israel found themselves in and in our relationship with God.
Is 49:3 says, “Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” And in Is. 42:6-7 we read; “I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.”
The consistent life, the holy conversation, the unswerving integrity, the active, benevolent spirit, the godly example—these are the mediums through which light is conveyed to the world. DA. 307.
Is Hearing enough? No! We must act, we must do. It is in the doing of the commandments that there is great reward. Those who give practical demonstrations of their benevolence by their sympathy and compassionate acts toward the poor, the suffering, and the unfortunate, not only relieve the sufferers, but contribute largely to their own happiness and are in the way of securing health of soul and body.” 4T 59-60.
Isaiah has plainly described the work that God will accept and bless His people in doing: Please turn with me to Isaiah 58: 5-11. “Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward. Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”
This is God’s plan to help us out of our self-love and spiritual mediocrity. But what happens when this is distasteful to us and we ignore our calling?
Please turn with me to Is. 42: 18-20 and let’s see what happened to Israel. “Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD'S servant? Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not.”
We become blind and deaf when we ignore our calling. Our hearts become “Obtuse,” dull and insensitive, to the voice of God calling to our hearts. Paul, in His letter to the Hebrews, writes, “Today, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” Heb. 4:7.
In the third chapter of first Samuel we find an interesting story, I invite you to turn there and lets take a look at this story. 1 Samuel 3:1-10 And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision. And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see; And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep;That the LORD called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I. And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down. And the LORD called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again. Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him. And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the LORD had called the child. Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth. Here you have Samuel who is just a youth of 12 years and God calls out to him, yes God was calling Him to be a prophet, but today God wants to talk to you too. He says in Isaiah 50:4 The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. What did Isaiah say that God would do? That God would wake us up in the morning to do what? To hear Him to communicate with Him! tell about Lisa Clouzet.
Friends, will we be like the children of Israel and say, “Don’t let God speak to us, but you tell us what he says,” OR will we be like the child Samuel and say, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth?”
Opening Hymn: 282 I hear thy welcome voice
Scripture: Isaiah 50:4-5
Closing Hymn: 285 Jesus Calls Us
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