Glimpses of Truth
Listen…What Do You Hear?
Most of us have a convenient way of not hearing what we don’t want to hear. In the believer’s life, this could be very dangerous--that is, if we’re not listening to what God has to say to us.
We pick up on this point very early in the Scriptures from Genesis 2, where God had instructed Adam and Eve, telling them exactly what to do and what not to do. It is recorded in the 15th through the 17th verses. From this all-important story, we learn of the tragedy that takes place when we fail to listen to and obey what God has told us.
There are some very important principles in this story, and when we fail to listen to God, we begin to listen to the wrong voices. Eve had a very clear instruction about that tree. The instructions came, remember, from God Himself. But we find that she came to the place where she had a choice. The choice was to listen to God or to Satan.
Now, for us today, when we fail to listen to God, we are easily deceived, just as Eve was. If you take a moment to read those verses, you’ll find how Eve was deceived, how the subtle question was placed in her mind. It seemed to be quite innocent, but it had disastrous results not only for Eve but for Adam as well, who likewise made the wrong choice about listening to God.
We cannot, we must not underestimate Satan’s crafty and subtle enticements. What must we do? We must listen to God.
Also, when we fail to listen to God, we are expressing pride, we are expressing that thing called “independence.” Maybe the bottom line of most all sin is just that, “independence.” But we must not forget that God is always interested in what is good for us and our families. This, of course, is not true with Satan. His attitude is, “A little bit of this never hurt anybody. After all, nobody’s perfect!”
So, there are certain things you can count on, and one is that when you cease to listen to God, you’re heading for trouble.
In the third chapter, the ninth verse, God asks an important question. He asked Adam and Eve, “Where are you?” It had nothing to do with geography. God may be asking you today, “Where are you?” In other words, are you walking in the will of God, are you listening to God? Remember, God does not ask questions to secure information. He knows it all anyway. God was really giving to them and gives to us opportunities for confession.
So, may we continue to listen, may we listen to the right source. Let us listen to God.
