Then God Said...

I'm not always the best listener. I try really hard though. I keep my mouth shut and let the other person do the talking, but my mind wanders often. The speaker will be speaking and my minds starts thinking about the list of things I need to do, or what I want to eat for lunch. I may be distracted by a hair on my head that seems out of place, or have a complete squirrel moment and wonder what's happening on the next episode of my favorite television show. And there's always that moment when they look to me for a response or ask a question and I freeze up thinking, "Oh, shoot, I wasn't listening," and I follow with a quick reply, "yeah, sure, I get that." They nod and smile. Whew, good save!

I want to be a good listener but life is full of distractions.

One thing for sure I know I need and want to listen to is God's Word. That is an area I do not want to fake my way through. I want to pay attention and listen to what God has to say to me.

God gave his Word for us to know and understand and we need to fully grasp that and lay hold of what he is trying to teach us.

But I'm at a dilemma. Some of the problem I see today is people aren't really listening to God's Word. People are changing God's word to suit their own sinful, selfish desires.

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 2 Timothy 4:3

Is that time now? Are we living in a world where we just want to hear what we want to hear? We want to believe whatever makes us 'feel good' or distort the Word, God's almighty Words, to adhere to what we believe and how we think, just so we can do what makes us feel good and still be right with God? We want to have our cake and eat it too. In other words we want to live in sin and reap the benefits of God's blessings too.

“All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away,But the word of the Lord endures forever.” 1 Peter 1:24-25

We want to wallow in the mud and say that we are still clean before our Savior.

The church is even wanting to conform to this world to draw more people in, but Romans 12:2 says to not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. It's our minds that need to be changed, not God's.

Times may change, but God's Word never does.

It all started at the beginning in Genesis when God spoke the world into existence. Then God said, It was good. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding." Job 38:4

It all started in the beginning when the Word was with God and the Word was God. (John 1:1) God spoke, Jesus is the culmination of words and life, we should listen. We should pay the utmost attention and adhere to his words, listen to them and follow them wholeheartedly. How dare we try to put words into God's mouth.

"Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” Romans 9:20

God's word is good. His words are life giving. "Then God said, 'let us make man in our image.'" We are 'born again through the living and eternal word of God. 1 Peter 1:23.

His words bring light and guidance. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105.

God's word is living and active. Hebrews 4:12

The word of God is not chained. 2 Timothy 2:9

God's word will accomplish what he desires and will succeed. Isaiah 55:11

God's word is eternal. Your word, LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Psalm 119:89

The One who spoke the world into existence will be the same One who will bring the words of eternal life to the hearer, to those who have ears to hear, to those who will listen to God's word and not change them to adhere to their own selfish desires, to those who love God and keep his commandments. To these the Master will say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

These are words I want to pay attention to. These are the words we should all want to hear.