Hearing God in Obedience
“Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” Luke 11:28
Jesus counsels those who hear the word spoken by Him – words from the Word to keep it. Keeping the word is simple, sometimes raw, obedience. To heed and obey the Lord’s counsel even when it runs directly counter to our wishes and hopes, even our prayers, enables us to enter more deeply into his presence, enables us to hear more in days to come. One of my favorite prayers is “Lord, give me something to obey you in today.” The assumption is that He will speak to my heart in some way that shows me a next step up into greater understanding of his heart and his ways. This in turn tunes my heart to listen for what that new obedience may look like.
James warns us to “Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Notice that we can deceive ourselves into passivity, avoiding the doing of the word, the keeping of it. We can’t blame Satan when we deceive ourselves by letting our own desires supplant the implanted word already spoken to us. Very often when our hearts are reluctant to obey or are simply rebellious. We seek to hear from almost anybody except the Lord, trying to gather rational actions for getting our own way instead of his. When we don’t act on what He has said –“This is the way, walk in it” when we turn to the right or left of his purpose (Isaiah 30:21) – then he might just give us our own way to demonstrate that our blessing is always obedience in hearing him.
Some years back, it was time to get a new motorcycle (of course!) and I just knew I needed a bigger faster cruiser that the Harleys my friends rode. The Lord clearly indicated a Honda touring bike instead I persisted and he gently gave me my wish. I found after a few months that I couldn’t brace my back on cruiser floorboards, and even short rides were becoming more and more painful. No modification or adjustment I tried made any difference. The transition to obedience was revelatory – the Honda fit me, blessed me, was right for me. (Even my wife liked it because it had a “heart shape” between the brake lights. How much expense and trouble could have been avoided by simple obedience to what the Lord instead of my own short-sighted impulses! I had deceived myself into believing that in this place I knew where happiness and blessing were, apart from hearing God and obeying him. Hebrews 2:1 urges us to “pay close attention to what we have heard”, which means we respond in faith and obedience and thereby receive the intended blessing for ourselves and anyone else who heeds our obedience.
Today’s Prayer: Lord and Father, when I have heard your quiet leading, protect me from deceiving myself. You promise me that your sheep know your voice. May I obey so that I may hear more and grow in grace.
Today’s Challenge: Ask yourself if you are obeying what you have already heard from God. Should he speak new things if you know you have not been obedient to what he has already spoken to you?
