Listening


……Today you must listen to his voice. Don’t harden your hearts against him as Israel did when they rebelled…. Hebrews 3:7-8

How often do we hear parents complain to their children, “You are not listening to me.” ? Or it may be your spouse, your parent, your employer, your friend who has the same complaint. We all want people to listen; not just to hear our words but to understand what we are wanting our words to convey. To really listen to someone thoughtfully is to give them a sense of value.

The writer of Hebrews reiterates in this verse, and again in verse 15, the importance of our listening to God. He uses the example of the children of Israel in their travels from slavery in Egypt to freedom. God wanted to give them a land of blessing, but it was going to cost them some faith and some effort. Because they did not listen to God’s promises to them and believe Him, all of that faithless generation missed out on tremendous blessing. They left Egypt and died in the wilderness never seeing the fulfillment of God’s promise because of their unbelief.

There were two exceptions however; Joshua and Caleb were amongst the twelve spies sent to check out the land of their inheritance and they were the only two who believed that God could help them conquer the giants in the land and obtain their inheritance. The other ten spies told Moses, “It’s too hard for us to do. We’ll never conquer the giants.” They had their eyes on what they could do and not on what God could do with them. Sadly the people voted with the ten and refused to listen to God’s promises. They missed a lifetime of blessing as a result of their unbelief.

How about you? Are you listening to God and really believing His promises to you? What is your heart telling you? Is it stirred with the hope of adventures with Him? Are you thinking, “Yes, I can do this with your help, God.” Or are the voices of doubt and fear speaking louder to you and causing you to not hear the heart of God, which is to do you good all the days of your life?

This doesn’t mean life will not have challenges. The children of Israel had giants they needed to face and fight. Your giants will be different ones but God will still be with you as you face them in faith. The psalmist got it right when he wrote “for with our God we shall do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies.” (Psalm 60:12). He knew that it was not he who was going to conquer, but God WITH HIM. There is a world of difference! When faced with our giants or our challenges to faith, let’s not forget to listen to God speaking His promises to us, for above everything else He is faithful.

Prayer: Lord God, faithful One, forgive the times I have doubted your ability to see me through the challenges of life. Help me to allow you to walk with me into my battles and then I know together we will be more than conquerors. In Jesus’ name, Amen.