Wednesday, June 24

Jeremiah 23:18 (HCSB)

      For who has stood in the council of the LORD

      to see and hear His word?

      Who has paid attention to His word and obeyed?

 

To hear a word from the Lord requires some things. First, it takes time. You have to wait—to stand—before the Lord. This is hard for us. We want things fast—microwave fast. But hearing from God takes time. We have to be willing to sit and listen…patiently.

 

Second, it requires humility. We do not come to God’s Word to find what He says to someone else. We come to hear what He has to say to us. What is His council to me? I have to be willing to allow God to speak to me, to challenge me, to correct me. If we stand in the council of the Lord that means we are seeking God’s council for our own life first.

 

Third, we have to pay attention. We must be focused. We must concentrate on God’s Word. We must read and reread and reread again. Sometimes it helps to read a verse in more than one translation. We need to really listen to what the text is saying, and what God is saying through it. Sometimes we are not listening to what God says, but we are trying to hear what we want God to say.

 

Fourth, we must obey. Whatever God says to anyone else through me He says to me first. Am I obeying His Word? If I am not obeying He is not speaking to anyone else through me. In fact, it is the height of arrogance to think that I could have a word from God for anyone else if I am not obeying His word in my own life.

 

Want to hear from God? Those are the requisites.