The Daily Word

 

How good is your hearing? Mine is steadily deteriorating and I haven’t learned sign language yet! But that is just a physical thing. I miss some sounds, particularly those at the higher end of the scale but I will continue to get by I think. Let me ask another related question, how good is your listening? It looks as though I am asking the same thing but there is a world of difference. Our brains mechanically process sound, almost unconsciously, we hear noise BUT we need to apply consciously our brain to understand what we are hearing. 

So many times we use the word ‘pardon’ and ask someone to repeat what they have said because our brain is occupied with other thoughts and we have heard the noise of speech, but it hasn’t penetrated below the surface.

Sadly, we can approach the Bible in exactly the same way, we can hear speakers talking from the Bible and yet our understanding is switched off. The Bible is described as God’s Word and to scan/read it without seeking God’s illuminating power is rude but worse, it profits us very little. We gain no guidance, we gain no encouragement we cannot move forward spiritually to serve God and if there is a command, we become disobedient to God because we can never obey it.

In Luke 11 Jesus said, “Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it”. This is a simple enough statement and should be common sense or purely automatic. But we NEED to listen to what God has to say, speaking through His Word because we can never grow spiritually unless we do.

Article written by Brian Preston, Elder @SFGH Church