To Listen to Know

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Ecclesiastes 4:13-16, 5:1-7 Proverbs 8

Note: these passages are all in NIV as I'm on a very slow computer (heehee) and can't get to the different pages very quickly so .... yeeeah. You can look up different versions if you want. =o) I'll try and fix it when I get home. 'o)

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I'm skipping just a bit forward in each book, I know. I have partly done posts for the post that should come chronologicaly next. Um yeah. But at camp we had a solitude time with God for 3 hours today and this devotion was standing out. So here I am.

David exhorts readers to listen for wisdom. Sound easy? It's not. Sources of wisdom are all around if we look; people, the Bible, the Holy Spirit, all are great sources of wisdom, but to become wise we need more. I've been thinking there are 3 major steps in becoming wise

1) Become still to attune yourself to God. Stillness is almost non-existant in today's fast paced world, but it is essential to hearing God.

2) Once your spirit is still, listen for God, listen to wisdom. Remember what you learn.

3) Take the wisdom to heart. Practice it daily. Make it a part of your life. Don't despise wisdom because it's not the easy way, or it doesn't fit in with society.

The king featured in the end of Ecclesiastes 4 has forgotten how to listen. His heart is not stilled. He doesn't heed the warnings (I assume from his advisors) and so falls into ruin as a king. This is a clear illustration of what happens to us when we are not attentive to God. Our lives fall into ruin, even if we had been good examples of God in the past. People see this in us. If we think that no one will notice, we're only fooling ourselves.

Ecclesiastes 5 clearly spells out the importance of thought before speech. Verse 2 especially hits home for me. I'll too easily blurt out whatever comes to mind. A friend of mine (you know who you are 'o) always takes time to think before he speaks. It's something I think we could often do better at... think before you speak, so easy to say, so hard to do. Verse 2 also tells us that God has much to tell us, and we have a LOT to learn, but stillness is the key to hearing Him, and obedience is the key to living the life of the wise.

Verse 4 is a barb to me and fellow procrastinators, I'm sure. Doing things right away is hard for me, but it's important to God.

The lessons for Camp this year deal with masks, so verses five and six are a good tie in to that. It's like wearing a mask when we make vows just to make ourselves look good. Only pledge what you can keep your word on. Ananias and his wife Saphira show what happen when you try to do that -- they tried to pretend they were donating all the money for the sale of their vinyard to the church, but wound up keeping a lot of it for themselves. God struck both of them dead for their deceit. Yeah. Let's all keep our promises, eh?

Well yeah, Let's all listen up for God, hmm?