Proverbs 4: 20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
Isaiah 51:4 – “Pay attention to me, my people! Listen to me, my people! For I will issue a decree, I will make my justice a light to the nations.”
Matthew 6: 34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” (MSG)
Imagine how a loving father will feel if he perceives that his children seem to be approaching danger and therefore tries to draw their attention, only for them to ignore his call? How can they call themselves children of such a man, when they pay less attention to his counsel; not to talk of going ahead to walk in them?
This is how God feels when His own people ignore His counsel and diverting to a dangerous course of life. Sometimes it gets to a point that, it seems the Holy Spirit have to plead with some of us to listen to God’s counsel for life. This should in no way be the case. In the account of Isaiah’s prophecy, God at a point had to call on His own people to pay attention to Him and listen to Him when He speaks.
God is always trying to get our attention. He created us to fellowship with him and to do his will (Psalm 100:3; Revelation 4:11). God wants to speak to us every day in the wonders of nature, through the Bible, by His Spirit, and through His messengers. In order to hear Him, we must be available to listen.
The careful assessment of the scripture under study seem to indicate that, God’s tone of speaking in that context was one of a passionate appeal to His very own. However, should our Creator, Master, and LORD have to beg us to pay attention to Him so He blesses us? Should God beg us to go to church, read His Word and be obedient to His commands?
Although you won’t hear a talking donkey, God still has His ways of getting your attention. Sometimes He uses a restless spirit or some vague dissatisfaction with one’s life. At other times, it may be a Scripture passage or something a person says that causes us to pause.
But, sometimes God is trying to get our attention. As the writer of Psalm 119 says, “Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I obey your word” (Ps 119:67 – God used affliction to bring me back to himself.) So, our first point is that God often uses our pain to bring us back to Him. We should give attention to God’s WORD: what we watch (on TV, listening to, etc – all these can leave strongholds in your minds, that prevent us from paying attention to God.
Sometime ago, I was invited to minister at a program. I set off from Accra (Ghana) to the place in a rush, and with a busy posture. Just when I was about to enter institution, I heard that still small Voice of God saying, “Son, can you just spare Me 1 minute of your time?”. I couldn’t believe my LORD was pleading for me to give Him time. Apparently, He had been ‘trying’ to prompt me that I left something important in Accra but then, I never gave Him attention. It had been too late because I was far from home, in Kumasi.
Beloved, are you God’s child? Are you a Christian? Are you part of God’s people? Please, God is calling on you to pay attention to Him and listen to Him, when He speaks to you. When you do that, He will reveal mysteries to you that will change your life forever. Does God have to beg you in order to gain your attention? Think about this!
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, please forgive me for the times I turned deaf ears to Your Voice and Your Word. Help me to be able to quickly discern Your Voice and pay heed to it.
In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
QUESTION FOR MEDITATION
Do I really pay attention to God?
