Give Ear … by Travis Clark

Today’s Reading – Psalms 78 – 79 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)

Second Milers also read – Proverbs 1; Psalms 1 – 5; Mathew 1 – 2)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Deuteronomy 32:4

Read the “0701 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

“Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.” (Psalm 78:1)

I believe since the invention of the smartphone we have become the worst listeners. Just think about it, how many times this week have you seen someone or yourself on their phone while having a conversation with someone else? It has become so hard to have a meaningful conversation with someone, because they are not giving their full attention. I have seen myself do this way too often. What happens is usually I’m not one hundred percent sure what the person talking to me is saying. Sometimes I even have to stop and say, “what were you saying?”  It’s extremely rude, but it also can be costly. Someone may be telling you important information, and now you were not able to retain the information because you were not paying attention. Listening is what this particular Psalm is talking about.   

The first thing the psalmist says is “give ear.” He’s saying I need you to listen. He wants them to listen to the word of God. He goes on to talk about why you should listen. I think why I should listen would be to help my life, or make my walk with God better. However, this passage is not to benefit me at all. The reason he’s telling us to listen is for the generation to come. God says, you had better start listening to the law for your children’s sake. If you are a parent, or a mentor to the generation to come you have a responsibility. Your responsibility, for the next generation, is for you to have a personal walk with God. God is saying, if you listen, and you follow me, the generation to come will have a better time following. I have seen this to be true today. I know there are mighty Christians who have had their children stray away. Yet other times the children leave God, because the parents were not really listening to God. These parents would go to church, but after church they would watch or listen to something that is wicked. They would bring their Bible to Church, but that is the only time they would open it up. The generation to come is watching, and they are thinking if it’s not real to my parents, why would I make it real for myself?

“But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.” (Luke 11:28)

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” (James 1:22)

At RU (the addictions program I run at my church) I often have addicts say they are just “hurting themselves” and not anyone one else by partaking in their addiction. I inform them that is not the case. Number one they have people whose hearts are breaking because their loved one is trapped in an addiction. Number two many children of addicted parents tend to get caught up in the same addiction. Could that be hereditary? Maybe. Rather, I think a big part of it is watching their parents partaking in the addiction. 

So how are we doing with our Christian walk? Are we listening daily to God so that the future generations have someone prepared to lead, or are we like the person talking to someone, with a smartphone, unaware of who may be following us? Let’s “give ear” to God.