As I prepared to teach a lesson on Sunday, the
story caught my interest. It was not so much the story in itself that attracted
my interest but the lesson, listening. Further, on in the week, other readings
in my Bible and in my
devotion guides continued to capture my attention. My reflections revolved
around this topic, listening leading to obedience. Is God trying to
get me to obey Him in
something? I continued to read and pray about
it.
When you look at Saul and his first campaign as king, you also see his son, Jonathan. God appointed Saul as king because the children of Israel wanted to be similar to their neighbors and have a king. God told Samuel He would provide a king for them but they would be subject to the human whims and shortcomings of any king they had. Saul proved to be just that sort of king, human. In the first story of Saul as king, we find a story within a story (a pericope), one of Jonathan and his armor-bearer, which teaches the reader and his listeners how to listen and follow. The story is in 1 Samuel 14. Jonathan tells his armor-bearer what to do in verses 6-10. We see in verse 13 the armor-bearer follows Jonathan. He could not have followed if he had not listened. This following led to panic on the part of Israel's enemies, the Philistines, which led to the ultimate victory over the Philistines.
Now, consider Jesus telling His
disciples about the
parables He spoke to His followers in Mark 4. Jesus spoke to the people about the sower and the
seeds in the first eight verses after which Jesus proclaimed for them to hear
if they had ears, leading them to consider and comprehend. Hearing comes when
you actively listen. The disciples asked Jesus to explain the parable.
He explains it to them and subsequently, almost verbatim, repeats vs. 9 except
instead of saying "let him be hearing" Jesus says in vs. 23 "let
him be listening and perceiving and comprehending" (AMP). You will notice
active hearing, intense listening, must be followed with study, perception, and comprehension or else the Word spoken by
God's Spirit to us falls on infertile ground.
Let us now go to 2 Peter 3:16-18. Peter speaks of Paul and the his difficulty in understanding many of the things of which Paul spoke. Peter warns his hearers to be on their guard so they fall not as prey to those who misconstrue and twist the Word. He wants the readers to understand beforehand this will happen and they will need to be on their guard. How then are we to be on our guard against Satan's deceivers? Peter states this answer in verse 18, "Grow in grace and spiritual strength and recognition and knowledge and understanding of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (AMP). To recognize Christ and His Word, we must have knowledge, which comes through study, understanding. To have understanding, we must obey. To obey, we must actively listen. Do we listen like Jonathan's armor-bearer and follow Christ? Do we listen as Christ speaks to us, His disciples, to be able to obey Him? How do we obey? Is it not by seeking Him and acknowledging Him and understanding Him? In which soil do we live our daily lives, fertile or shallow and thorny? Do we have a daily life with Christ where we keenly seek, listen, study and obey Him or is it haphazard?
Here is the challenge for us, seek him and actively listen to Him each day. To do this, we must read His word, not because we should by human godly standards, but because we want to hear Him, know Him, love Him, and obey Him.
This is not a new year's resolution but a commitment to love Christ fully and to know and follow Him.
