Day 53 or February 22. Listen to God when He speaks to you. Our thoughts today are from
Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 4 and 5. Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.
Love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.
First the big picture surrounding these verses. Having looked back at how great God has been,
Moses now concentrates on what God wants to do in and through His people today. All he says is
rooted in the Ten Commandments, which the Israelites have had for some years now. They were given to the
first generation who left Egypt about forty years earlier. He explains the covenant between God and
His people, and underlines how important it is for them not to lose their identity as they settle
in an alien land. For four hundred years in Egypt they had not intermarried with other races,
and Moses tells them that it's just as vital now that they retain their purity and remain God's
people. In ancient times intermarrying was the norm, as it is in many countries today. However,
God was hard at work preparing a nation through whom He would bring the Christ.
And now our action step. Have you ever spoken to someone and just known they weren't listening?
Yes, I'm speaking to you. When Moses was given the Ten Commandments back at Mount Sinai,
just after the Israelites had escaped from Egypt, there were high hopes that life would be better
from now on. We've all had that experience, I'm sure. But it's in the euphoria of the blessing
that the evil one slips a banana skin under our feet, and down we go. We need to be prepared,
and the best way is to listen to what God is saying. We need to train ourselves to really listen.
Jesus said in Matthew 11 verse 15, anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. Be
sure to listen for God's voice today rather than just being present when He speaks. After all,
it's for your own good and ultimately the good of others. God's always worth hearing.