Not listening

Isaiah 65:12b:

         for I called but you did not answer, 

         I spoke but you did not listen. 

         You did evil in my sight 

         and chose what displeases me

If you have children you will totally get this.  Children have the innate ability to pick and choose what they hear (lets face it men so do we, haha).  You can have them look you in the eye and specifically tell them what to do, and yet they will tell you a little bit later that they never heard you say it.  Unfortunately, we do the same thing to God.

I have often heard it said that God answers prayers in one of three ways: yes, no, or wait.  There is something else to consider here when we think that God has not answered our prayer, and that is maybe, just maybe we aren't listening.  So why do we not listen?  Most immediate answer is because we know we won't like what He is going to say.  God is telling us something that maybe to us will make us uncomfortable, maybe it is unorthodox, maybe it goes against our traditions, or maybe its a sin we don't want to let go of, or maybe, just maybe it is a command that we have ignored our entire life and we just don't want to hear it anymore.   The easiest thing for us to do is not answer, not listen.

It is the easiest, but  most damaging.  Like anything else in life when God speaks we should listen.  We may not always like what we hear, want to do what we hear, or get the answer we want.  However, God has the ability to see beyond the here and now.  He has full perspective of eternity.

Eventually we learn as a child to listen (well some of us do).  The same is true of being a child of the Almighty Jehovah God, just listen and life will come together like it is supposed to.

So the challenge for today is listen and eat your broccoli, ok just listen.....

Chris