Daily Bible Reading: Deuteronomy 3, Psalm 85, Isaiah 31, Revelation 1

Can You Hear Him Now?

Psa. 85:1. “I will listen to what God the Lord will say; he promises peace to his people, his saints – but let them not return to folly.” The key word in this verse is “listen.” The Lord is always saying something to his people, but we do not always listen.

You might think God is not saying anything to you; you haven’t heard an audible voice or seen anything written in the clouds. But as you read His word, He is speaking loudly to you. You just have to listen and let the Holy Spirit point out what He wants to say to you from the portion you are reading. Rev. 1:3. “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it, and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.”

Another way the Lord speaks to us is through his servants; apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. (Eph. 4:11) They are God’s gift to the church to speak into the lives of His people. Our part is to listen and do.

“A prophet is not the revolutionary he appears. He does not call people to what is new, but to what is old. Not to human prejudice but to eternal values, which are always right. Prophets resist the current of their time by holding to the truths of eternity. They take us forward by pointing us back to truth we have departed from, truth just as true now as it always was. Ironically, the beliefs of the present age that take pride in not being old fashioned, tomorrow will be old fashioned. Truth, however, never goes out of date.” Randy Alcorn in Dominion.

Notice in the verse from Psalm, listening to God is an act of the will. I WILL listen. When we don’t listen to God through the voices he has provided we end up going our own way, doing our own thing. Moses in Deut. 3 beseeched the Lord to let him go into the Promised Land with the Israelites but God basically told him “Shut up.” He had previously told him he would not enter the Promised Land because of his disobedience in hitting the rock twice to bring water from it rather than speaking to it as God had told him. Moses, although he was forgiven, had to suffer the consequences of not listing.

Open up your mind and heart and hear what the Lord is saying to you. Listen to the input of godly counsel. Sometimes I think the Lord is saying “Can you hear me now?”

Tomorrows Bible Reading - Deuteronomy 4, Psalm 86-87, Isaiah 32, Revelation 2

God is good all the time,

Naomi Brinkman