Consider Carfully How You Listen - Daily Devotional September 16th 2009

Daily Bible Reading: 2 Kings 22-23, Ezekiel 12, Luke 8 Consider carefully how you listen. Jesus had just been telling the disciples the parable of the sower and explaining it to them. Then he said, "Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Luke 8:18. The condition of our heart is very important when we are listening to the word of God, whether that be preaching by the pastor or our private Bible reading. If we are filled with bitterness and contention we are going to hear God's word through that filter. If we come into a service with preconceived ideas we are not going to receive the same benefit from hearing God's word as someone who comes in open to whatever the Holy Spirit wants to impart to them at that time. In the parable of the sower Jesus talked about four different kinds of soil and this relates to four different heart conditions: Those who allow Satan to snatch the word away after they hear, those who have no depth, those who are entangled in the things of every day life, riches and pleasures, and then those who hear the word and retain it. Consider carefully how you hear, what the condition of your heart is as you hear the word of God. In Leviticus 14:14 when a person sinned and brought a guilt offering to the Lord the priest took some of the blood of the offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one who was to be cleansed. We need to ask the Lord to cleanse our ears so we can hear clearly what he wants to say to us. Often times our minds are cluttered with what we have been listening to throughout the week. Sometimes it gossip, murmuring and complaining, derogatory remarks. Is what we allow to go through our ear gate pleasing to the Lord? Is the music we listen to, or are the TV shows we watch and the movies we see pleasing to the Lord? Are these things a hindrance when it comes to hearing the word of God with an uncluttered heart? Mark 4:24 says, "Consider carefully what you hear." In the Old Testament when someone brought a guilt offering to the Lord he also had to bring oil along with the lamb. The priest put some of that oil on the earlobe of the person bringing the offering. Leviticus 14:28. Oil in scripture is speaks of the Holy Spirit. Not only must we have our ears (hearing) cleansed, we need to have our hearing anointed by the Holy Spirit. King Josiah in 2 Kings 22 is a powerful example of someone who heard the word of God and acted upon it. "When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law he tore his robes." 2 Kings 22:11. He sent the priest to inquire of the Lord about what was written in the book. Then he called together all the people and read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant. He renewed the covenant to follow the Lord and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul. 2 Kings 23:1-3. He realized that as a country they had not been obeying God's word. Then he went on a cleaning spree. It amazes me all the junk and garbage dedicated to other gods that had been accumulated in the temple of the Lord; articles made for Baal and Asherah, the Asherah pole, quarters for the male shrine prostitutes and the women who did weaving for Asherah, altars that his grandfather, Manasseh, had built in the courts of the temple. No wonder the Lord's anger burned against them. All this stuff for other gods had been placed in His Temple. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. That is why we need to be so careful about what we allow to inhabit our temple, our body. Lots of stuff comes through the ear gate into God's temple. It also amazes me that the high places Solomon had built for Ashtoreth, for Chemosh and for Molech 320 years earlier to please his foreign wives were still in operation. No wonder it was called the Hill of Corruption!!! 2 Kings 23:13. But Josiah smashed them and covered the sites with human bones so they would be desecrated and not be used again. And he put to death the pagan priests. All this came about because Josiah heard the word of the Lord. Let's consider carefully how we hear and what we hear, have our ears open to the voice of the Holy Spirit and let him cleanse us of any impurities that would hinder our walk with him. Tomorrows Bible Reading - 2 Kings 24-25, Ezekiel 13, Luke 9 God is good all the time, Naomi Brinkman