Tag: Give Ear

Call on Him

“The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth”
“This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me”

Psalms 17:1
Hear a just cause, O LORD; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

Psalms 86:1
Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.

Psalms 142:1
With my voice I cry out to the LORD; with my voice I plead for mercy to the LORD.

Psalms 43:1
Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me!

Psalms 140:12
I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy.

Psalms 61:1
Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer;

Nehemiah 1:6
let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned.

Hear these heart cries from men of God who did not think it shameful or weak to run to God for help.  These cries are heart deep because there is something in their heart, mind and soul that places God first and their life dedicated to being a humble servant with a desire to worship, honor and glorify God.  Note in contrast what Jesus said about those whose hearts were not – “this people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” How easy is it to give lip service to being a follower of God while our heart is so far away from living each moment of every day in His presence.  God hears our cries for strength and protection but should that be the only time we turn our heart, mind and soul to Him.  No it is not.  Live each day with Him on your mind, in your heart flooding your soul.

 

Pleading to listen

“Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not.”

“Give ear, O house of the king! For the judgment is for you;”

Joe 1:2
Hear this, you elders; give ear, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?

Hosea 5:1
Hear this, O priests! Pay attention, O house of Israel! Give ear, O house of the king! For the judgment is for you;

Psa 49:1
Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,

Jeremiah 5:21
“Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not.

Amos 3:1
Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:

Micah 3:1
Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord GOD be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.

Matthew 13:9
“He who has ears, let him hear.”

Revelation 2:7
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

I wonder how many times we have to be told to listen to what the Lord is saying to us.  God wants to give us peace, rest, hope, love, guidance, and assurance yet we choose to keep Him at arms length until something comes into our lives that upsets it.  Can you imagine looking at this from outside and seeing the Creator of all there is reaching out to His creation and telling them how much He loves them and what He expects from them, and how these people reject His love and guidance – what would you think of people who have rejected and neglected their creator?  Do we think for a minute we will not be held accountable for the rejection and neglect?  Every day we have a choice to learn more of Him or to neglect Him.  We come up with multiple reasons and excuses of why we don’t have time.  The bar of what it means to humbly serve, honor and glorify God in our lives needs to be raised higher.

Tested

They did not destroy the peoples,
as the Lord commanded them,
but they mixed with the nations
and learned to do as they did.
They served their idols,
which became a snare to them

Judges 3:1
Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before. These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal- hermon as far as Lebo- hamath. They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods

Exodus 15:25
There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer

Who likes to be tested?  If I am fit for the testing I don’t mind.  I remember training for a marathon and how there were routine testings of duration – how long could I run and at what pace.  Even before the marathon I only ran 21 miles as a test to give myself confidence that I could make a full marathon.  I was told 21 was the magic number and if you could do this you could finish.  Still you don’t know until you test your body against the challenge of 26 miles.  When I finished my first marathon it was then I knew I could make it.  The test was complete.  God gave the Israelites times of testing to see if they would obey.  There were those who would obey and many more who would not.  We are told to train ourselves up to be humble servants honoring and glorifying God.  Being tested helps us hold on firmer, see more of His holiness, deepen our faith, experience happiness, joy, peace, and learn what it means to follow God in good times and times of troubles.  Our training is never done when it comes to knowing God.  Keep your heart, mind and soul focused on humbly serving Him.  God may test you to grow your walk with Him.  He may test you to show you an area of your life that needs to change.