Today's readings are Nehemiah 1.1-2.10 and 1 Timothy 1.1-20.
The Bible uses the idea of "hearing" in a different way than most of us do. Here's an example. I don't hear very well. In fact, if I am not on the first floor of my house, if the doorbell rings, I don't hear it. Everyone else does, but I don't. It isn't that I'm distracted, it's simply that I don't hear what happened. Likewise, when I need to converse with people, I prefer email or the telephone. I can see what we are saying by email and I can turn up the volume of the telephone. If I have a nice conversation with someone in a crowded and noisy environment, I usually try to repeat anything that seems especially important to be sure I caught it. Or better yet I try to arrange to have my wife present. She'll hear.
In the Bible when we talk about God hearing, it isn't just about receiving a message. It goes far beyond that. Nehemiah prays to the Lord and the Lord hears him. Well, of course the Lord hears him. God hears everything. That isn't what Nehemiah is talking about though. He is talking about the Lord paying attention to him and hearing him favorably in such a way that he answers and gives Nehemiah his favor. That's a lot different from my hearing the doorbell. I might hear the doorbell and not answer. God answers. Every time.
On this occasion God showed favor to Nehemiah. Nehemiah was praying for something that was God's desire. Likewise, when we pray according to our Lord's will we can know he will hear and answer us. So when we pray the Lord's prayer, when we repent and ask forgiveness, when we pray for wisdom, when we ask the Lord to show his glory, we know he will do it. Everything the Lord has promised we know he will do and that he delights in our prayers that he will carry out that will.
What has the Lord promised? Pray that it may be so!
The Bible uses the idea of "hearing" in a different way than most of us do. Here's an example. I don't hear very well. In fact, if I am not on the first floor of my house, if the doorbell rings, I don't hear it. Everyone else does, but I don't. It isn't that I'm distracted, it's simply that I don't hear what happened. Likewise, when I need to converse with people, I prefer email or the telephone. I can see what we are saying by email and I can turn up the volume of the telephone. If I have a nice conversation with someone in a crowded and noisy environment, I usually try to repeat anything that seems especially important to be sure I caught it. Or better yet I try to arrange to have my wife present. She'll hear.
In the Bible when we talk about God hearing, it isn't just about receiving a message. It goes far beyond that. Nehemiah prays to the Lord and the Lord hears him. Well, of course the Lord hears him. God hears everything. That isn't what Nehemiah is talking about though. He is talking about the Lord paying attention to him and hearing him favorably in such a way that he answers and gives Nehemiah his favor. That's a lot different from my hearing the doorbell. I might hear the doorbell and not answer. God answers. Every time.
On this occasion God showed favor to Nehemiah. Nehemiah was praying for something that was God's desire. Likewise, when we pray according to our Lord's will we can know he will hear and answer us. So when we pray the Lord's prayer, when we repent and ask forgiveness, when we pray for wisdom, when we ask the Lord to show his glory, we know he will do it. Everything the Lord has promised we know he will do and that he delights in our prayers that he will carry out that will.
What has the Lord promised? Pray that it may be so!
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Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com
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