Today’s Reading: 1 Chronicles 5 & Psalm 81
God
longs for His people to listen to Him. It breaks His heart when they don’t – or
worse, won’t. Here in Psalm 81, we are admonished by the Lord to listen to His
voice or face unpleasant consequences if we don’t. It is a sad and tragic thing
when the very people whom God has chosen, called, and adopted as His own
children refuse to listen to Him.
In
Psalm 81, the Psalmist Asaph is speaking during one of Israel’s national festivals.
During these times, the people assemble to worship God, offer sacrifices to
Him, and hear His word. At the beginning of this Psalm, Asaph calls the people
to gather and blow the trumpet and sing praises to Yahweh. He reminds them of
the great works the Lord has done on their behalf and exhorts them to remain
faithful and devoted to Him. As the Psalm progresses, Asaph turns to a
discussion of their failure to listen to the Lord and His commands. He declares
that God is speaking but the people are not heeding His voice.
This
was the great tragedy. God was ready to fill the listening and open hearts of
His people, but they would not listen to or obey Him. They had become
complacent in their faith and their ears had turned away from God’s voice. He
charges the people of Israel with not listening and not submitting to the very
God they claim to worship. Their hearts had grown cold. Their faith had lost
it’s vigor.
This
is why it is so important to keep our hearts tender towards the Lord and our
inner-ear always open to His words. As time goes on for some believers, they
begin to drift away from a passionate relationship with the Lord – just a
little bit at first. Eventually, a little distance from God becomes greater
until the point that life has become so entangled with other pursuits and other
priorities that they shut out the Lord’s voice altogether. They become
stubborn.
When
this happens – watch out! Your God will not force His will upon you. If you
choose to drift away from Him and become stubborn and stop listening, He will
eventually give you over to your stubborn choices. He is so very patient, but
there can come a time when He can be patient no longer. That’s what happened to
Israel – God “gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own
counsels.” It is a tragic moment when someone forsakes the flawless and
powerful counsel of God to walk in their own ways and listen to their own
counsel.
So
make sure that you are diligent to keep your heart tender and open to Him and
His voice. He wants to speak words of peace, grace, wisdom, and faith to you.
Listen with your heart turned toward Him and you will hear!