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Are You Listening to God?
"They said to Moses, ’You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak
with us, lest we die’ "
—Exodus 20:19
We don’t consciously and deliberately disobey God— we simply don’t listen to
Him. God has given His commands to us, but we pay no attention to them— not
because of willful disobedience, but because we do not truly love and respect
Him. “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Once we realize we
have constantly been showing disrespect to God, we will be filled with shame and
humiliation for ignoring Him.
“You speak with us, . . . but let not God speak with us . . . .” We show how
little love we have for God by preferring to listen to His servants rather than
to Him. We like to listen to personal testimonies, but we don’t want God Himself
to speak to us. Why are we so terrified for God to speak to us? It is because we
know that when God speaks we must either do what He asks or tell Him we will not
obey. But if it is simply one of God’s servants speaking to us, we feel
obedience is optional, not imperative. We respond by saying, “Well, that’s only
your own idea, even though I don’t deny that what you said is probably God’s
truth.”
Am I constantly humiliating God by ignoring Him, while He lovingly continues to
treat me as His child? Once I finally do hear Him, the humiliation I have heaped
on Him returns to me. My response then becomes, “Lord, why was I so insensitive
and obstinate?” This is always the result once we hear God. But our real delight
in finally hearing Him is tempered with the shame we feel for having taken so
long to do so.
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