How dumb can you be?

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion…  Hebrews 3:7,8

If God spoke, would you listen? I remember, as a child, hearing the stories of how the Israelites (in the Old Testament) went through a repetitive cycle of rebellion, punishment and repentance, only to do it all over again. I thought, How dumb can you be? Why would you not listen to God? Why would you repeatedly rebel, knowing it will lead to destruction? The verses above, while referring to the Old Testament Israelites, of course were also written to us. When God speaks, do we listen?

I can clearly remember telling God, I can do what I want. You have to forgive me tomorrow. I can do this with no consequences. What I could not see at the time was how this hardened my heart, and made me deaf to his voice. After going my own way, I did not want to talk to or listen to God. I only wanted more of my own flesh. I turned my back on God and He allowed me to sow the seeds of my own destruction. In my misery, I heard a familiar question, How dumb can you be? Why would you rebel, knowing it would lead to destruction?

So what is different now? How do I listen to God’s voice? The truth is that God is constantly speaking but we have all at times, deafened our ears to him. When we cannot hear God speaking, it is because we have hardened our hearts.

So, to soften our hearts and to open our ears, we need to turn to God. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you (James 4:8). I don’t have it all figured out, but I can share what God has taught me to do. As I am reading through the New Testament, I pick out a passage daily that seems important. I then spend the day, thinking about that passage in my spare time. While I mow the lawn, as I’m falling asleep, I think about that those verses. I ask God what He is saying to me through those words. I ask him to speak to me. Then the next morning, I write that down. This blog is a product of that practice.

This purposeful listening to God has radically transformed my thought process. Just as ignoring God hardened my heart to him, listening to him now softens my heart and improves my hearing. As I draw near to him, He draws near to me. So now, instead of reaping the destruction of my rebellion, I reap the life that He grows in me. This of course, is the purpose of this blog. When we listen to God, we sow the seeds of life instead of the seeds of destruction.