Listen...

Finally! My word for the year is... Listen. I have been praying all week about it. Thinking about it for the last few weeks. Yesterday I thought that I had heard that word but just wasn't sure. But that is what kept coming to my mind. LISTEN.

So, yesterday as I was talking with a friend about seasons and change and prayer, it just hit me. The answer to the questions we were asking was to listen. To listen to Him. To listen to those around us. To listen to our husbands. To listen to our children. To listen to our friends. Really listen. But to learn to distinguish between the voices. Those of the world and that still small one.

I was alone in our church auditorium for a little while yesterday morning. The only sound was the audio of the Bible being read continuously. The reading was from Deuteronomy, chapters 3 and 4. As I sat and listened to the words being read, I realized that over and over God was giving specific instructions. Go into this land. Don't go in to that land. Possess these people. Don't possess those people. On and on it goes as He instructs Moses about particular routes and enemies.

Hearing the inspired Word of God read out loud and in entire chapters and books is powerful. At first I just filtered the noise into the silence of the room. Not really listening to what was being read. Then the words began to come into focus. These few chapters are written in the first person. Moses is saying, "then God spoke to me". And the details of the journey are specific. There are direct instructions and specific tasks. God says do it this way.

Over and over again, the Word talked about taking on their enemies. And over and over again, the Lord assured them that He would give the enemies over to them if they obeyed His commands. At the end of Chapter 3, Moses is telling Joshua: "You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going. Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God himself will fight for you.".

What better words of wisdom could you bestow to others? To your children. To encourage your spouse. To minister to your friends. They were God's words spoken through Moses to Joshua. Sharing experience with knowledge to the next generation. Moses listened to God. Joshua listened to Moses. The people listened to them both. The children listened to the fathers. Moses was very clear with God's command to: "Teach them to your children and to their children after them."

If we aren't listening, how do we know what to teach? Where to go? What to do? How to love or to help or to serve? How do we share wisdom with our children and our families if we are not listening and learning? So that is what I am going to do this year... Listen.

God's Word is alive and active and able. He still speaks. We just need to learn to listen. Care to join me?

"Listen, O heavens, and I will speak!

Hear, O earth, the words that I say!

Let my teaching fall on you like rain;

let my speech settle like dew.

Let my words fall like rain on tender grass,

like gentle showers on young plants.

Deuteronomy 32:1-2 NLT