TUESDAY
December 18
Willingness to Listen
"The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, `Samuel! Samuel!' Then Samuel said, 'Speak, for your servant is listening' " (1 Sam. 3:10, NIV).
Have you ever heard that still, small voice of the Holy Spirit but ignored it? Consequently, everything went wrong, and you thought to yourself later, Oh no, why didn't I listen?
First Samuel describes a story of an old man and two wicked sons who didn't listen to the Lord and a little boy who did. Though there were strong warnings from God, those who needed to change their course didn't.
Read their story in 1 Samuel 2:12-3:18. What contrast is made apparent here between those who listen to God and those who don't?
Eli's sons had other things on their minds than the things of God. And even when Eli, after hearing what God wanted, spoke to his sons, he didn't seem to do anything else. And his sons were obviously not ready to submit the details of their lives to God's will. What a contrast to the young Samuel!
Preacher Charles Stanley describes how essential it is to cultivate openness to God's voice in what he calls "shifting into neutral." He says: "The Holy Spirit ... does not speak for the sake of passing along information. He speaks to get a response. And He knows when our agenda has such a large slice of our attention that it is a waste of time to suggest anything to the contrary. When that is the case, He is often silent. He waits for us to become neutral enough to hear and eventually obey."—The Wonderful Spirit-Filled Life (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers, 1992), pp. 179, 180.
What do you think Stanley means by becoming "neutral enough"? When you think about your openness to God, what things often prevent you from being "neutral enough to hear and eventually obey"? What do you need to do in your life to cultivate openness to God's voice and a decisiveness to be obedient to His direction?
1 comment:
Too often we are caught up in the daily business of life, family, work, and even church activities that we fail to spend time listening to God. He says in Psalm 46. "Be still and know that I am God" Unfortunately we are too caught up in the rat race to even hear Him tell us to slow down. This is to our sorrow.
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