Today’s scripture (Isaiah 30:15-22) speaks of God’s desire to have His people turn away from their ways and find rest in Him. But Israel, as though she knows better, made her own plans. Sounds like the story of my life!! Does it sound familiar to you, too?
The scripture says, “the Lord longs to be gracious to [Israel]… and “waits on high to have compassion on [her]” (v18). If only she stilled from her willfulness enough to hear the voice of the Lord, she would find the very thing she looks elsewhere for. Three millennia later, nothing much has changed.
It may be even harder today to hear the Lord than it was back in the days of Isaiah. We live in a culture that provides nearly constant stimulation and countless new ways to entertain ourselves, unfavorable conditions for simple prayer and meditation, let alone a disciplined, focused relationship with God.
Clearly, God wants to bless us, but we have to be in position to be blessed. If we are somewhere other than where He wants us to be we cannot reasonably expect Him to honor our waywardness.
Do whatever it takes to hear Him. If you are not sure where to start, ask your pastor or a mature Christian for ideas. Next, do what you are supposed to do, and go where you are supposed to go. This may require you to change, but in the end it will be worth it because you will be positioning yourself for His blessings, which will outweigh any reward this world could possibly provide.
Good point and we must remember that in the old testament the words of the Lord came from prophets and today we have the Holy Spirit to guide us but we must learn to hear and operate from our spirit and not from our natural even though the natural may seem logical.
ReplyDeleteThe enemy justifies all our thought from the flesh, whereas from the Holy Spirit the truth is always justified from the word of God. Today, make a conscious effort to hear our Lord in your meditation with the word.
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