COME NEAR AND LISTEN

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Come near me and listen to this: From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret; at the time it happens, I am there.”

Isaiah 48:16a

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I think I can say this with absolute assurance. The Lord is always seeking to speak to us. He is.

Think about it. From the moment we wake in the morning until the time we go to bed in the evening to prepare for the next day, we are faced with a myriad of decisions, choices, and/or judgments to make over any number of matters. Whether we opt for the right things to say, do, or believe or not hinges on whether we seek to communicate with the Lord as much as He longs to do so with us.

You see, there is little arguing that a life built upon consistently and persistently searching for the Lord’s guidance and direction will bear a life lived right and righteously because the Lord is never going to lead us into sin. Rather, He always instructs in ways that carry out His perfect will and way, fulfilling purposes that are always good and just.

Yes, the Lord is always wanting to speak to us and lead us to righteousness. There’s just one problem. We aren’t listening most of the time. We are becoming like a people the prophet Jeremiah spoke of when he wrote the following:

“To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.” Jeremiah 6:10

If it was that frustrating for a messenger of the Lord, imagine how exasperating it must have been for the Lord Himself. Instead of His words being received with thanksgiving and gladness by His people, they were instead rejected as offensive and without pleasure. The people chose to close their ears to the Lord and their sinful disrespect and disregard only led to His judgment upon them in the form of a lengthy exile in a foreign land under foreign rule, a just penalty for their actions.

Our Savior Jesus also found Himself frustrated by the people of Israel during His ministry. It seemed they had learned very little from their lengthy consequences at the hands of the Babylonians. Look at these words from God’s only Son:

 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables:”

“Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:”

“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’^”

“But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.” Matthew 13:10-16

Today, we see both types of people Jesus referred to. We still have people who although seeing do not see and although hear do not hear. Their hearts are calloused, they are hard of hearing, and their eyes are closed to the way and will of the Lord. They would rather do their own thing or adhere to the ways of the world where they are free to do as they choose and not be restricted by stringent commandments and guidelines. Unfortunately, it’s this choice that leads them down the road of sinfulness, wickedness, and evil and away from the life of righteousness the Lord expects.

So what is the solution to this problem?

The Lord gives us the answer in verse 16 of Isaiah 48:

“Come near me and listen to this: From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret; at the time it happens, I am there.”  Isaiah 48:16a

Did you catch the answer to the problem?

The Lord tells us to “come near and listen.”

That’s it. It’s very simple. We need to commit ourselves to stop what we’re doing every day and seek the Lord, to draw near to Him and receive His words for us. He has much to say and going back to the words of Jesus in Matthew, we learn that when we open our eyes to fully see the Lord at work around us and open our ears to receive His guidance and direction and wisdom, then and only then will we begin to come to an understanding of life and our place in it. We receive this with our minds and hearts as the Lord brings healing to what was once calloused and uncaring, reforming us while He is conforming us to a new way of life in Him.

Friends, the Lord is speaking to us all today and granting us critical instruction regarding His expectations for our relationship with Him. In the end translation, He isn’t asking a whole lot from us. He only wants us to come near and listen. We would be wise to hear Him and respond in obedience.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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