Day 53, or February the 22nd. 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 40 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 400 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.