As a parent we give advice to our children so that they will not come to harm, we want to see them prosper in all they do. So too, the Lord, our Father, has given us and continues to give us advice through wisdom and understanding that comes from others, and through the word of God, so we will not be harmed and prosper in all we do. But so often like teenagers, we don't want to listen to our parents, we want to do it our own way and in so doing sometimes learn the hard way.
I don't know about you but there are many things that the Lord has spoken to me through others and through His word, that I have not heard the first, second, or third time, and it's not until something happens do we 'seek' council and actually have ears to hear what others are saying to us. Wisdom and understanding are all around us all of the time, but so often we are not ready to hear it until something happens and we search out the 'why'. Like the warnings to have a disaster pack ready in your home should an earthquake happen, but how many have actually got that pack prepared?
Proverbs 1:20-33 was powerful to me this morning. I encourage you to read it. It challenged me to ask the question of the Lord, "What am I not listening to, What am I not seeing?"
When we listen to wisdom and understanding there are promises that are ours in these scriptures;
in Prov 1:23 "I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings"
in Prov 1:33 "whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm."
I don't know about you but I want to know His thoughts, I want to know his teachings and I want to live in safety and in ease without fear of harm and hence I ask the questions, even though at times I may not want to hear the answer.
This is a little poem I wrote this morning;
They closed their ear to me and would not listen,
They closed their eye to me and would not see.
I tried to warn them,
I tried to show them,
But they would not listen,
They would not see
They wonder why this has happened,
They wonder why they cannot hear me?
They closed their ear to me and would not listen,
They closed their eye to me and would not see.
People die,
People cry,
We see the need and and we walk right by,
Too busy on our way
Too busy having our own say.
They closed their ear to me and would not listen
They closed their eye to me and would not see.
