Day 18…Psalm 85

"I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying, for he speaks peace to his people, his faithful ones. But let them not return to their foolish ways.” (Psalm 85:8) 

Notes from the devotional:

• Men find it hard to stop, look, and listen. We don’t like to stop what we’re doing – we think it wastes time.
• We don’t find it necessary to look – we think we already know. 
• We find it difficult to listen because as another speaks, we are formulating a rebuttal.
• Failing to listen intensely can mean missing the message entirely, or it can lead to hearing the message only partially.
• To miss the message entirely means living in ignorance.
• To grasp the message only partially can mean living with confusion.
• In the psalmist’s time, God spoke powerfully to prophets whose job it was to deliver the message to his people. the problem was they only listened halfheartedly or not at all. Because they did this, though, disaster overtook them several times in the Bible. Those who listened though knew that God’s salvation was near (v9), knew about unfailing love and peace (v1), and so on.
• Men today have the Bible, godly preachers, and gifted authors on every hand speaking God’s message. If men would just listen, they would see God is still offering all these things. But as we continue to refuse to listen, disaster can overtake us too, especially if we “return to our foolish ways.”

My notes:

• I am too busy trying to either be Mr. Fix It or Mr. Ostrich-With-My-Head-In-The-Sand to ever really listen. In the car, it’s the radio. At home, it’s the TV or the Xbox 360 or Facebook. At work, it’s patients and phones and letters and stress and anything else I can find to occupy my time.
• Why can’t I just sit still and listen? Is it because I am afraid of what I may hear? Is it because I am afraid I will hear nothing?
• Ok, I have committed to one thing this year – daily devotionals to keep me in the Word at least a bit every day. Not enough though. I need to “Be still and know that he is God” at least for a few minutes every day.
• We’re not radio stations. It’s okay to have airtime silence, people.

Personal challenge:

• What is your technique? What do you do to try to listen to God intensely”? What do you hear him say?

~~from The One Year Book of Devotions for Men (Stuart Briscoe, 2000)~~