Expect to Hear from God

 

When we go to church on a Sunday morning, or a mid-week service or a Ladies Bible study, we go, expecting to hear from God. We go, hoping for God to speak to us. We want Him to show us His will through the verses of scripture and the expounding of the Word by the speaker.

Well, at least we should go with this intent. Church shouldn’t just be a social gathering where we catch up on all the latest gossip and try out our new dress and pretty little notebook and pen.

No. We need to hear from God. We need to go expecting to hear from Him.

But I want to put something to you. What if you woke up each and every morning, expecting to hear from God? What if you didn’t just rely on the preacher’s words, and the Bible study leader to teach you? What if, each day, you opened up God’s Word expecting to hear a word from the Lord?

What if you became proactive and dug into the Word of God yourself? Often, we become so lazy when it comes to study, that we are content to let our teachers and preachers do all the hard work. They spend hours in the Word of God, seeking His will as to what they should teach. Praying, studying, researching, writing and trying to make sure that what they teach is in line with God’s Word and able to be communicated clearly and understandably.

But we don’t have to wait all week for God’s Word to come alive. We can feast on the precious Word ourselves, every day. We are so blessed in this day and age to be able to hold in our hands many copies of the Bible along with commentaries, devotionals, study helps etc. Really, we have no excuse!

We can wake each morning, expecting to hear a word from the Lord. We can come to Him prayerfully, humbly, expectantly.

We ask God to speak to us. We wait to hear. But God is always speaking to us. He gave us His word. We just need to sit and read it!  

Proverbs 2:1-6 KJV - My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

We need to incline our ears. Open our eyes. Search for the hidden treasures. Cry after knowledge. Seek wisdom.

Psalm 119:18 KJV - Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

It really is up to us. God doesn’t expect the preacher or teacher to be the one that has to spoon feed us on a weekly basis. It’s wonderful to be able to sit under the Word of God and be fed, but we must be willing to put the spoon to our own mouth. We need to dip it into the endless supply that God gives us and feast on the table He has spread before us.

Psalm 119:103 KJV - How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Make it a point to wake each morning, expecting to hear from God. Open His Word. Ask Him to open your eyes so you can see what He wants to say to you. Then, go out and act in obedience. Remember what you read and let it carry you through your days.

Read it. Study it. Memorize it. Meditate on it. Love it. Share it.

Psalm 119:162 KJV - I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil.

Psalm 119:97, 162 KJV - O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. ... I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil.