Isaiah 55:1-3
"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; ..."
Listen diligently
As I sit in this Panera I hear many sounds ... the ripping of a receipt, the crunching of falling ice, the clinking of spoons, the rumble of a lowrider passing by, the slamming of an oven door, and the babble of lively conversations. I hear it, but I am not really listening to it ... at least not diligently. Numerous times has my father given me oral instructions only for me to quickly forget them because I was too busy doing something else while he was talking to me. I hear him, but I was not listening to him ... at least not diligently.
In either case, when I fail to listen diligently, I fail to comprehend and apply what is being communicated. It is impossible to "listen diligently" to everything ... I would go insane attempting to "listen" to everything in the Panera ... but I am foolish when I don't listen to my father. I think that I can multitask, when in reality I do a poorer job on the task at hand and the one he instructed me to do. Therefore, I must make a choice. What am I going to listen to?
Listen to me
I must listen to God. But how do I practice this? But how do I learn his voice? How do I know when he is speaking? For starters ... why not listen to those who I do know. The habits I cultivate with others spill over into my relationship with God. If I don't practice listening to my parents, friends, or teachers ... why would I think that listening to God would be different?
God speaks through his word. So how often do I go to his word and listen? How often do I read the Bible? This is how I learn his voice and discern "good" and "rich" food from the poor bland generic brand.
In What do I delight?
Where is my delight? For there is my treasure and my desire? Do I come to God? Do I hear God? Do I delight myself in the food of the King? Or have I satisfied myself with empty calories ... all this talk is making me hungry. I'm going to go eat the word.
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1 comment:
I will expand on your thougts a little more..
When do we hunger? Why do we hunger? We usually hunger (in most instances) when we have not eaten and our bodies need fuel. If we do not eat for a given period of time we grow weak, faint, sick and possibly even starve. We must eat something. The person who eats doughnuts all day is still eating, even if it is not energizing fuel. So eating becomes a nessacity, whether we choose to eat nutrious or not. We can choose to eat God’s word and have fuel as a Child of God, or eat the garbage of the world and be like a person consistently eating doughnuts..you are sluggish and starved. Surviving but barely..you’ve only eaten calories that are equivalent to air for energy and calories that stick to your hips like gum to a shoe. Yeah your’e not productive.
However hearing is different. I could stuff cotton balls in my ears and go all day without hearing anything. I would still be healthy, living, and active, and I can survive and survive well. It does not nessacary become a nessacity. I will not die for lack of hearing. I may be more annoyed but I will survive. It can almost be a choice. So then what makes me want to hear? If I listen or listen diligently to my parents I may be a benefit of wise counsel but is that the only motivation? I could be listening to someone whom I’d wish I wasn’t, and still benefit from what there communicating, but wish I hadn’t listened to them. I can not listen to my boss and get fired and be out of a job, but could like it ( just to clarify I don’t and wouldn’t but it could be a possibility). So then apart from potential rewards and consequences, are there any other motivations for wanting to listen to someone, or something diligently? Why do I choose to listen to them over all the other cluttering noises of the panera’s?
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