Lend Me Your Ears

Today's passage:  II Samuel 22:1-7
     "When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid;  The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me; In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God:  and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears."
     Men are often accused of having selective hearing.  They heard "football game on TV" but not "Please ask son's teacher about such and such".  But I'm sorry to throw us under the bus ladies, I know I have it too.  Especially when I'm in the middle of doing something.  When my husband says to turn off the coffee pot warmer before I leave the house so the coffee doesn't burn, I heard what he said.  But apparently I didn't process it and really let it sink in.  Because what did I do the other day, right after he said it?  I left the house for numerous hours with the coffee pot warmer still on.  I'm fortunate to be married to a very laid-back, easygoing husband who never gives me criticism.  And I deserve a lot, I'm afraid.
   The end of verse 7 says David's cry entered into God's ears.  God always hears our prayers.  I could be wrong, but the verse that says God doesn't hear our prayer if I regard iniquity in my heart, doesn't mean He doesn't actually hear us.  He just isn't paying attention and will not answer.  Does that mean God has selective hearing too?  I guess when we refuse to relent of some sin in our life that He has pointed out to us time and time again, it does.  I suppose when we ask for something, and we are too stubborn or proud to say "I'm sorry", God ignores us.  But in the above verses, God didn't just hear David.  His prayer went into God's ears.  And unless sin is blocking our way, God always intently hears our prayers.  Have you ever been in a conversation, and had the sense that the person you were talking to was distracted, or that you didn't have their full attention?  I know sometimes I have been that person.  And I hate that because I really want to hear what the person is saying, but if my two year old is about to poke himself in the eye with a sharp object or my four year old is climbing yet again on some non-sturdy structure, my attention is going to be a little divided.  God has a whole world to listen to, but He is not once distracted by his children who are involved in some ungodly activity while another who needs His help is pouring out prayers over her little one.  He can equally hear the prayers going up at a church service and the prayers going up at the hospital.  And He doesn't just hear one and listen to the other.  They both enter into His ears.

Hear My Prayer--Taken from Standard Bible Story Readers, Book One
By Lillie A. Faris, Illustrated by O.A. Stemler and Bess Bruce Cleaveland
The Standard Publishing Company, 1925

     This is great assurance because like David, I'm living in a "flood of ungodly men".  This sinful world gets worse every day.  News stories are evidence of that. It isn't going to improve. Things might improve for individuals if they give their lives to Christ, but as a nation, as a planet, conditions will grow steadily worse.  It is a good thing that a prayer of salvation enters into God's ears and He can deliver a person from the "sorrows of hell" and the "snares of death".  It is a comfort that when I feel surrounded by sin and darkness, when evil is prevalent and engulfs me, God doesn't just hear me, my prayer enters into His ears and He will answer.
    "I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised:  so shall I be saved from mine enemies."  II Samuel 22:4

A Quiet Heart

Today's passage:  II Samuel 7
     David can rest.  At long last, many of his immediate enemies have been put down.  Israel and Judah have been reunited after over seven years of following separate kings.  Strategies planned, armies trained, battles won.  These things have taken up a lot of David's time.  Ever since leaving those Bethlehem fields, David has been moving.  Moving towards a giant, moving out of range from Saul's javelin, moving through the wilderness with his mighty men, moving against his enemies to hang on to his throne.  When has David had time to be still? In his shepherding days, he had a lot of that.  He had time to meditate, play his harp, dwell on God's goodness. Since that time, he hasn't really been able to stop.  This is not sin, by the way.  He also has a family who requires his time (of course, had he chosen to stick with just one wife, that might have alleviated some responsibility--poor decision making that cost him in more than one way).  We all go through seasons of life when we can meditate more on God.

David tells Nathan his desire to build a Temple for God--Taken from  Standard Bible Story Readers (Book Six)
By Lillie A. Faris, Illustrated by O.A. Stemler and Bess Bruce Cleaveland
The Standard Publishing Company, 1929

     I have been reflecting on that lately.  It seems no matter how early I get up, I can never seem to get these finished without boys up and screaming in the background.  I feel guilty, because I want to have my time with God, and yet I shouldn't neglect my kids either.  God has given me these three lives, and they don't understand that Mommy on the computer is time with God.  Why would they?  It just looks like I'm playing around on the computer.  So then, some days I'm rushing trying to put something up here, not really feeling proud of what I have written because the quality isn't to my liking, or I can't seem to capture that central idea.  When I was in college, I had more time to sit and listen.  Not so much anymore.  But do you know what?  God knows I try.  I don't think He is unhappy with the time I spend with Him.  He knows it is different now.  He knows that part of my quiet time is not going to be quiet.  He knows that as early as I try to meet Him in the morning, my boys may get up just as early to meet me.  I guess that is why this first verse in Chapter 7 really speaks to me.  David finally had time to rest.  God had accomplished a lot in his life.  There were things that had to be handled, had to be addressed.  David was not sinning in doing any of those things.  It just left little time for meditation.
      My sister gave a devotion recently at a sister-in-law's baby shower that really stuck with me.  "Don't wish things away."  Her point was that as new Mommies, as much as we treasure that little one, we spend a lot of time wishing for the next phase.  I have done that a time or two.  She has four beautiful children, and the youngest just started school this year.  I know it has been a difficult transition for her.  I don't want to wish away these mornings when my children get up and need me, that I have to hurry up and get finished to help them start their day.  All too soon, there will be time for that.  In short time, they will be getting ready on their own.  My oldest is already doing that more than I would care to think.  Someday I will be able to read, sit and listen.  Someday I will be happier with what I have posted.  Someday I will be able to hear God speaking to me in my heart because I have not been handling and addressing boys fighting or mismatched socks, or growling tummies.  Those days will come.  And then I will be wishing for more interruptions.  A quiet heart is good.  It is satisfying.  But so is the noise.

Listening with the Heart

Today's passage:  I Samuel 15:12-35
     Both times when Saul is confronted with his sin of bringing back the Amalekite spoil, he says "they have brought them," and "for the people spared".  He is not willing to take ownership of this deed.  Verse 9 says, "But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them..."    Hmmmm.  Who is telling the truth here?  God or Saul? 
     Then Saul tries to justify "their" actions by saying it was for religious reasons, to sacrifice to God.  Were they going to sacrifice King Agag to God too?  I mean, if you are going to make up a story, make sure all the pieces fit.  The Israelites were not known to give up human sacrifices, they left that to their heathen counterparts.  When Samuel presses him about this disobedience, Saul says, "Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek..." Okay, Saul, stop right there.  That's what I would have said if I had been Samuel.  When God said, "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not..." what part of that sentence meant, and bring the king back to Israel with you?
      Saul further says, "But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been uterly destroyed..."  What he did was only bring back the king, the people are the real violators here because they brought back the livestock, but he adds, "to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal."  So, really, they were thinking about God so its not as bad as that, is it Samuel?  Even if this was all true, even if Saul had only brought back Agag which God said not to do, the people follow their leader.  If King Saul brings something back, it stands to reason that they would too.        
     Only when Samuel pronounces Saul's punishment does Saul come anywhere close to confessing his sin, and even then, I'm not sure he is repentant.  It is like the child who steals the cookie from the cookie jar and once caught, promises never to do that again, and says over and over, "I love you, Mommy, I love you Mommy, I love you Mommy" to avoid his spanking.  In his confession, he tells Samuel that it is because he feared the people that he disobeyed.  So now it is the people's fault?

Saul tears Samuel's Robe--Taken from Treasures of the Bible
By Henry Davenport Northrop
International Publishing Company, 1894

     Then Samuel says something very interesting to Saul which I think prompts a true confession.  Samuel says, "And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent:  for he is not a man, that he should repent."  It is almost as if Samuel has to go back to the basics with Saul.  He has to remind Saul that God is not a man.  God doesn't lie.  God doesn't make a mistake.  It is almost as if Saul had forgotten that God could not be at fault for this.  Being king, he had been used to laying the blame on others.  It had become his habit to allow others to become his scapegoats.  He couldn't do that with God.  He had forgotten that God will not be a scapegoat.  He needed to be reminded that Someone was higher than the king, and that Someone does not make a mistake.  When Saul realizes this, that he is not going to fool the Lord, he comes clean.  It takes a while to get there, but he is at last able to recognize his wrong, without making excuses, and without throwing anyone else under the bus.
     Saul could fool Samuel.  Saul could fool the elders.  Saul could fool the other nations, but God will never be fooled.  He sees the heart, and it is because He sees the heart that Saul will be replaced.  Maybe Saul was genuinely repentant on this occasion, but God knew that it would take reminder after reminder to make Saul the king he ought to be.  God was not interested in continuing that process, at least, not while Saul was on the throne.  God never gives up on us.  He works with us to get us where He wants us to go, but not always in the position we are in.  Sometimes He has to knock us off our thrones so we will listen.  When we are surrounded by all our worldly comforts, we can drown out His Voice.  It takes a lot to hear Him amid all the distractions.  When He takes things away from us, it is so He can get us to a place where we hear Him.  Really hear Him, not the "Yes, dear" kind of hearing that spouses so often give.  He wants us to listen.  Intently. 
    Does that ever happen for Saul?  I can't see that it does.  He doesn't exactly wear earplugs, more like earmuffs.  He hears God, but he never really listens.  God's instructions are like the adult "Wa, wa, wa" in a Peanuts cartoon.  We can listen with our ears, but if we don't listen with our heart too, we haven't really heard anything.  When God tells us something, and we don't respond emotionally to it, I'm not sure we have actually responded.  Going through the motions, not the emotions.  That doesn't mean we have to be a crying mess in everything we do, but doesn't God say to do things "heartily"?  Saul heard with his ears, but he never heard God with his heart.  When I feel that disconnect with God, in my prayer time, in my Bible time, when I am witnessing to someone, I have to ask myself, am I really listening?  My ears are open, is my heart?

Carpenter's Class

Today's passage:  Isaiah 54/John 6
     "And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children."  Jesus quoted this verse in John 6:45 to a crowd the day following the feeding of the five thousand.
       I can imagine my own children gathered at Jesus' feet, sitting on His lap.  He would have been a master storyteller, keeping even the littlest ones attention.  This was not just a carpenter moonlighting as a prophet.  This was no ordinary rabbi.  This was the Son of God.  And He was teaching them.  What an experience that must have been! Years after the book of Isaiah was written, Christ is quoting this verse and fulfilling it at the same time.  They were being taught of the Lord. 
     The sixth chapter of John is the "bread of life" passage.  How appropriate after they had just been fed the day before with loaves and fishes.  What a perfect illustration for the little ones.  I am reminded that God knows exactly how we learn.  When Christ was here on earth, He used many different methods because He knew we all have different learning styles.  Sometimes He would use an object lesson (the fig tree; the mustard seed), sometimes He would use nature (the calming of the storm), sometimes He would use parables (the lost sheep, the prodigal son).  All of these methods would appeal to different people in the crowd.  The message never changed.  I am not advocating that churches should start entertaining the crowd.  Christ did not do that either.  He used different approaches to get his point across. 
     Teachers need to be aware that not everyone learns the exact same way.  Parents know this.  All of our children have different ways of learning. My oldest son learns by reading and listening.  My second son takes a more hands-on approach.  My youngest son watches the older two.  If Jesus were to teach the story of the wise man and the foolish man to my three boys, I can imagine Him explaining and diagramming the best way to build a house with my oldest son.  With my middle son, He might bring out the carpenter's tools and let him hammer and nail away to get the feel of what building a house was like, while my youngest would stand quietly close by and observe.

Jesus Grew Up as a Carpenter's Son--Taken from Standard Bible Story Reader, Book Three
By Lillie A. Faris, Illustrated by O.A. Stemler and Bess Bruce Cleaveland
The Standard Publishing Company, 1926

 I don't really know how Christ taught the people because I was not there.  But I can imagine that he may have gotten the children a little involved, because He knows how children learn.  Do I take these things into account when I am trying to teach my own children a lesson? When I teach my Sunday School lesson, do I try to help the child who is more active and wants to do rather than just listen to my voice?  All children need to be trained to sit and listen. It is an important skill they will need for life. But when Mommy or Daddy ask them, "What did you learn in Sunday School today?", will they be able to answer?  If I make my lesson memorable for each learner, hopefully they will.

Staying

Today's passage: Isaiah 50
     As a child, my parents always told me (as thousands of parents have told their children), "If we go somewhere, and you get lost, stay where you are, and let us find you."  Sometimes I am lost in a crowd of enemies.  Sometimes I look around me and it feels like I have nobody on my side.  "Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God."  When I think about staying upon God, I think about being lost somewhere and letting my parents find me.  If I listen to what they told me, they will rescue me.  Whether in trouble or not, if I stay upon God, He will deliver me.  He already has delivered me.  But how do I stay?  The most obvious answer would be to stay upon His Word.  When I read it and study it, I am close to Him, and He doesn't have to go very far to find me.  When I read His Word, it keeps me from straying very far from what is right for me and makes it harder for me to get lost.  Prayer also helps me to stay upon God.  When I have neglected my prayer time, it seems that when I resume, my prayers "hit the ceiling".  God doesn't feel close, although He hasn't gone anywhere.  When I have been consistent in my prayer life, I feel His presence.  Hard to get lost when He is so near.

     I guess my parents were right again.  If I listened to their advice, they would eventually find me, although the farther away I went, the longer it would take.  I need to take my Heavenly Father's advice as well.  The closer I stay to His Word and in prayer, the less time it will take to bring me home again.

Hearing but not Heeding

Today's passage:  Isaiah 47
At last, judgement comes upon Babylon.  At least, Isaiah warns of the impending judgement.  God used Babylon as a tool to bring Israel back to Him, but they will still be judged as a nation, because they never acknowledged the true God.  In the many years that the Israelites were in captivity there, the Babylonians failed to notice the God they were still serving.  Granted, I'm sure there were Israelites who chose the Babylonian way of worship, but Daniel and others chose to live for Jehovah God.  Nebuchadnezzar at one point recognizes their Lord, but children and grandchildren departed from his Jehovah worship (probably thinking he was still insane from his days in the wilderness.)  So now God tells them of the judgement that will come.  Shouldn't this cause them to repent and recognize Him?  It hasn't happened yet, Isaiah is warning them.  It seems to me, that God always gives us fair warning.  Isn't there something that God points out to us, maybe in a message, maybe from reading His Word, maybe while we are taking action, and the Holy Spirit points out to us, "Hey, you need to fix that."  How many times have those without Christ heard a Gospel message and the Holy Spirit convicts them, saying "You need to listen to this.  You need to come to Christ."  Too often, we hear the warning but do not heed the warning.  Still God is merciful to us time after tired time.  God tells Babylon ahead of time what will happen, what will take place, but they do not listen.  Many times in the Bible, God gives plenty of warning about something that will take place.  Why?  Because He wants to spare us the judgement by allowing us to repent and make it right first.

Jonah under the vine--Taken from Treasures of the Bible (Divided Kingdom)
By Henry Davenport Northrop, D.D.
International Publishing Company, 1894

Think about Jonah and the Assyrians.  Jonah went to warn them, and the people repented (to Jonah's dismay).  Because of this, God staved off His judgement.  There are some obvious consequences to our behavior which God points out to us.  Anger issues lead to fighting and possibly murder.  Substance abuse leads to disease, theft, driving accidents.  Adultery leads to broken families.  Bitterness leads to anxiety attacks and other health issues.  God shows us these things ahead of time. If we repent and ask for His help, He can take these things away.  But it takes acknowledging Him first.  That is what Babylon refused to do.  Do I?