Listen to God First
Listen carefully to what I say; let my words ring in your ears. (Job 13:17)
My son played baseball while growing up. I remember a particular game where he had hit a double and was standing on second base. The next batter got up and he hit a line drive. My son ran from second base passing third on his way to home plate. The crowd saw the ball thrown in from the outfield and we could see that there was no way he was going to be safe at home to score. The crowd, especially his dad, continued to yell at him to go back to third base. Despite our shouts of warning, he continued running to home plate and (as we predicted) was called “out.”
After the game, I asked him why he continued to run. I said, “Didn’t you hear the crowd yelling for you to stop at third base?” He looked at me with a look of confusion on his face and he replied, “Dad, the only voice I heard was my coach at third base, he gave me the sign and told me to keep going, so I did.” I then asked him if the coach was disappointed in him for not scoring. He replied, “We don’t disappoint the coach when we do what he tells us, Dad.”
Who are you listening to today? Does the voice of the crowd drown out what God is saying to you? It is a constant discipline to tune out the world and tune in to what God is telling us. We need to avoid listening to the crowd or be overly concerned about the outcome. We should focus only on recognizing and listening to the right voice. When we listen to what God is saying, we can leave the outcome to Him. It may be a different outcome from the world’s perception of “right,” but we don’t disappoint God when we listen to Him.
My son played baseball while growing up. I remember a particular game where he had hit a double and was standing on second base. The next batter got up and he hit a line drive. My son ran from second base passing third on his way to home plate. The crowd saw the ball thrown in from the outfield and we could see that there was no way he was going to be safe at home to score. The crowd, especially his dad, continued to yell at him to go back to third base. Despite our shouts of warning, he continued running to home plate and (as we predicted) was called “out.”
After the game, I asked him why he continued to run. I said, “Didn’t you hear the crowd yelling for you to stop at third base?” He looked at me with a look of confusion on his face and he replied, “Dad, the only voice I heard was my coach at third base, he gave me the sign and told me to keep going, so I did.” I then asked him if the coach was disappointed in him for not scoring. He replied, “We don’t disappoint the coach when we do what he tells us, Dad.”
Who are you listening to today? Does the voice of the crowd drown out what God is saying to you? It is a constant discipline to tune out the world and tune in to what God is telling us. We need to avoid listening to the crowd or be overly concerned about the outcome. We should focus only on recognizing and listening to the right voice. When we listen to what God is saying, we can leave the outcome to Him. It may be a different outcome from the world’s perception of “right,” but we don’t disappoint God when we listen to Him.
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1 Comment
That is so true. People wonder what you are doing when I am listening to God. Things turn out better that way. He knows what He is doing even when I don't know.