Listening to God?

Welcome!


Today: Listening to God?


Passage: Psalm 85


8 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. 9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. – (Psalm 85, NIV 84)-emphasis added


The title of this psalm says, it is written by “the sons of Korah”; but when it says “I”, it looks like one of them wrote it

May be, the author of this psalm does not want to take credit for himself

Listening to God is a personal thing. Each person listens to God in a different way

Most of the time, we fail to listen to God. God may not speak that audibly all the time. God speaks to us through various ways, but we may be expecting it just from one source or in one way!

Once God even spoke through a donkey because someone wouldn’t listen otherwise!


Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?” (Num 22:28, NIV 84)


You may read the entire chapter to see the context

Most of the time, we listen to our own self or to others, than to God

We are more concerned about what people say, than what God says

If that is our situation, we can miss many of God’s ways and can even be in a trap! God sometimes speaks to us through people. But more often than not, He speaks directly to us through His word, in our spirit, and in ways like that

God tried to speak to the Israelites through words; when they didn’t listen, he spoke through his works of discipline. They went into captivity. Yet many did not understand, it was God’s hand. They failed to recognize God-talk

Check into our own lives, if we ever failed to recognize His voice

If you are a person getting ready to get married, listen to Him; if you are contemplating a job, listen to Him; if you plan to buy a house, listen to Him

The psalmist goes on to say, that God promises peace to His people

When God promises peace, it is peace

But in the O.T, we see several instances when false prophets promised “peace” to Israelites who were in sin, even as God “promised” them punishment

(Jeremiah chapters 6, 24, 28; Ezekiel 12-14)

When God promises peace, He also knows that there is a chance for people to go into sin when everything goes well. God is more interested in our spiritual blessing and the salvation of our souls than in our material blessing, whether you agree with me or not. The psalmist says: “Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land” (Ps 85:9)

When the fear of God leaves us, we better fear everything else; when we fear God, we need not fear anything else

Have a blessed day

BG


Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for saving me. I admit that I failed to listen to your voice many times and I “paid” for it. Help me listen to your voice more than any other voice, so that I can be blessed and be a blessing to many. Amen


“When we are spiritually blessed right, we can handle material blessings right”