I am a Christian, a retired teacher, a mother and a grandmother. I love to read and I love the Lord Jesus Christ! Unless otherwise specified ,all visual illustrations are from the YOU VERSION APP of the Bible.
I don’t know if I am the only one, but I admit that I am having difficulty talking to people about the Lord these days. It’s not because I’m not talking, but it seems to be that they are turning a deaf ear to whatever I am saying. I feel like the problem lies not in my speech or in their hearing but in their hearts. People just want to sin, believing either that there is no such thing as judgment or believing that they still have time to change should they want to or believing that they are just fine as they are. Of course, there is scripture about this condition of the heart.
God knew when He sent Moses and Aaron to talk to Pharaoh that he would not listen. Yet, God offered the truth to him anyway, and a chance to change along with it. But Pharaoh continued to harden his heart even to the end and his ultimate destruction. I am convinced that there are people today who won’t listen to anyone God sends to them because they have hard hearts. They are determined to go to eternity without God and I am afraid that God will allow them to perish in their sins because they refuse to acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior. I cannot change other people’s free choices, but I can and will continue to testify about God’s power, greatness and gift of salvation. It is up to the individuals whether they choose to listen and change or not. I can only do what God has told me to do and then leave the decisions up to the person, praying that God will soften their hearts to really hear and accept the truth.
May you never give up telling the truth and may God bless you with fruitfulness, listening ears and a soft heart in each one you speak with. Have a blessed day!
We are constantly assailed by noise in our modern world of gadgets and technology. If I go into the city, which I try not to do very often, there are horns, sirens and booming bass coming from cars with the volume turned too high. I cannot help but wonder how people carry on conversations in such an atmosphere. Then, I realized that they really don’t. Each person is isolated in his or her own world, many of them with ear pods in their ears and listening to music, a podcast or even a phone conversation. But what they are not listening to is the person walking beside them. It’s amazing to be that one can be right next to another person and totally unaware when they ask a question or make a comment.
I am very thankful today that God hears me when I cry out. He never puts in ear buds and thinks that today will be the day He will cut Himself off from the demanding and stubborn people that He created. Rather, He is always attentively “on call” and ready to hear us when we cry out to Him, ready to answer. I am in awe that with all of the noise going on in the world, at least in my small corner of it that I can perceive, God can still hear my cry to Him. I am one voice and yet my Father in Heaven is tuned in to me and my needs, willing and able to come to my aid. There are no ear pods that God uses to block us out and I am very thankful for the fact that God would never use ear pods because He desires to hear my cries to Him. Whether I am crying out a desperate prayer for help or a song of worship, God hears. He doesn’t block me as some do on social media, nor does He turn His back on me and pretend that I don’t exist. He acknowledges that I am His and listens.
I am filled with wonder that God can hear each of us simultaneously, as if there were only one of us to listen to. I remember when I was at home alone with our three children and inevitably the day would end, all three would come in excited to tell me the day’s events, but they would all speak at once. I had to calm them down and have them take turns, trying to remember who went first the previous day so that I was not playing favorites. Isn’t it awe-inspiring that God can listen to each of us all at the same time and hear everything that we are saying? He cares, He loves and He desires to hear about our days, our troubles and our needs that we lay before Him. He doesn’t have to choose one to go first, but He hears all of us. My mind cannot conceive of such a Creator, but I know that it is true because the Bible says He hears us. And I’m fairly certain that when I pray, I am not the only one praying at that moment in time. I don’t have to wait for my turn to talk to God because it is always my turn…and yours.
God answers my call because He hears me. He is always listening, and for that I am very thankful. Today, I want to tune out the world and plug into listening to God just as He is always attuned to my cry.
May you be blessed today with the absolute assurance that God is listening to you, fully attentive and with a heart filled with love for you.
I have to confess that my compassion has been sorely tested this last week. Staying with someone who is absorbed by bitterness and anger is frustrating and hurtful. Every morning I need new strength to face whatever that day’s complaints are. And then, God shows me words from His Holy Word that pierce my soul and let me know that what I am doing, the small things that I accomplish daily, are but a drop in the bucket to the compassion He would like to teach me to have.
It’s hard to sing a song of praise around someone who is morose, grieving so many losses in her life. But I sing quietly to myself and then go out to just listen and offer quiet words of comfort. That has been my life this week.
I have found that I need to get ready each day with the armor of God but also with compassion and kindness and patience. The situation is not likely to change, but I can change how I react to it. I know that I would have problems dealing with all that my sister is dealing with, so I am trying to see things through her eyes. Her vision is clouded with macular degeneration and her heart’s vision is clouded with bitterness. But I can see clearly that what she needs is a touch from the Lord and that is what I am praying for and then waiting for the answer.
Jesus did not come so that we can hold grudges but so that we can forgive and be forgiven. This last week has been hard, but kindness has helped.
So, I wait for God to act. I have advised, prayed, given quiet counsel and listened. Now, the infinite wisdom and love of God needs to take over in all of the places where I have failed to make a difference, to consume a bitter life with His unending love. And so I wait.
For what are you waiting? God’s timing is always perfect, so no matter how long it takes, persist in prayer and wait patiently for the Lord to act. His way is not my way, but His way is perfect and that’s what I am waiting for.
Have a blessed day as you wait or as you rejoice because this time the waiting is over for you!
I must honestly admit that I did not listen to President Biden’s speech last night, mostly because his rhetoric and pandering to the liberal left sicken me. However, I do subscribe to “The Daily Wire” and received a copy of Tim Scott’s rebuttal on my SafeChat newsfeed this morning. His entire speech can be found here, and he shows that he “gets it.” He understands that a nation divided against itself cannot stand and that America needs to be united, not torn apart.
I’m not going to debate politics here, but I do want to point out what the Holy Bible says about speech, specifically in relationship to actions. Note that in this verse we are admonished not to be arrogant in our speech. In what ways do we show arrogance when we are speaking? I think we do this each time we rush through a conversation with someone whom we don’t consider important in our lives. We just want to move on to the next thing that we consider critical or meaningful, and if the person to whom we are speaking is not part of that plan, we rush our words and turn away. Sometimes, we don’t even listen to them. I think that we show arrogance when we insist that our opinion is the right one and there is no other. There is only One Way to Heaven, that is true. But all of the rest of our opinions are just that…our own opinions. Even my statement about Joe Biden’s rhetoric is only my opinion, and I sincerely believe that you are entitled to your opinion as well. I think that we show arrogance when we don’t take time to listen. We interrupt, talk more loudly and insist that our conversation partner listen to us when we refuse to take the time to listen to them. A wise pastor once told me that we need to listen twice as much as we speak. I have found that I can learn a lot about people just by listening.
All knowledge comes from God and we need to give Him the credit for that instead of pontificating with our own views. The only knowledge that is important is about God and leading people to God and away from sin. After all, God is going to examine all of our actions and I have found that most generally, my actions follow my speech. If I am irate at a certain person for taking my time, my actions are to walk away from them as quickly as I can. Is that what Jesus would have done? How would Jesus act in the current political climate of divisiveness? Would He have taken sides or would He simply have continued to do as the Father instructed Him, teaching and healing and just being the example that we need to follow? If you believe that the latter is true, should we all not be examples for others to follow, leading others to the Father and to eternal life?
One of the reasons that I appreciate Senator Scott’s speech is that he seemed to give it with humility. He didn’t pretend to know everything; however, he did give insight into his own humble beginnings so that I could relate to him as a person instead of one of 100 Senators governing us. He called for unity, a real cry of my heart. Finally, he made the point of saying that you cannot fight discrimination with more discrimination. Shaming white children for being white is no better than shaming others for their skin color. As I told my students when I was teaching: “We are all kin to each other because we are all descended from Noah, regardless of our skin color. Skin color is just melatonin. It doesn’t make me who I am. That’s my choices which form my character.” I liked that Tim Scott knows God’s truth and acts like it. His actions have shown me that he does care about others. He tried to get a common sense police reform bill passed. He has fought for justice in the Senate during the time that he has served and has been an outspoken advocate for the people. Finally, he has not enriched himself on the backs of the people whom he claims to serve. I point out these actions because I want to remind people that God hears the speech, and He judges the actions.
May each of you have a blessed day with God guiding your footsteps and putting a watch over your mouth as He opens your ears to hear.
Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner 