Being Receptive

Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. Hebrews 3:15 (New King James Version)

How well am I doing at receiving words of truth? It is easy when the words are what I want to hear, but it is another matter all together when they are what I strain against. Or when they pinpoint an area that needs changing in me. In my reading through the book of Jeremiah I am noticing the negative responses people had toward God’s prophets and hence against the word of God itself. As Jeremiah would say the very things God had instructed him to say, he often faced physical abuse and imprisonment, because his message was not what others wanted to hear. And the interesting part is that his words were often warnings of coming judgment with an invitation to obey. God sent prophets to warn His people and give them another opportunity to turn back to Him. Truth presented was not always truth received!

There are the times believers may sit in a church service and close their ears to what a pastor is saying simply because they don’t like the pastor or the message is not what they want to hear. It is necessary to heed the words in Hebrews, “Listen and don’t harden your hearts!” It is wise for us to ask God before a service begins to help us hear what it is He is saying to us. Sometimes it is like finding a small nugget of gold among the many words but the search is worth it. If Scripture is presented there is something we can take away with us that is profitable and life-giving. Our spirit will take it in if we but poise ourselves to receive it.

While I may need this reminder concerning sermons, I really need it even more for the times individuals are communicating truth to me. Many are the times I have asked for advice only to find myself straining at what is eventually said. This has puzzled me and I asked God to reveal to me the reason I do this. He let me see that often I misread the message because I assume some wrong things about the person who is speaking it. I assume their tone is harsh when it is not. I assume they are fed up with me when they are not. I assume they have a ‘you should know better’ mentality when they do not. The list goes on and on. The bottom line is this: my view of myself feeds a suspicion of another person’s heart and hence affects the way I receive their words. Now when I find myself closing up to another person’s wise and loving counsel, I can look for my own roots of resistance and deal with them in order to take in the truths that are meant to help me.

Father, the moment I sense resistance, help me to do the searching of my own heart. Thank you for the ones You have sent to speak life words to me. Amen.

Spirit Song - Maranatha Singers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC7RDZP7tFw&feature=related

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.