Pay attention to Me!

I wonder if God ever wants to use that parental line with us? When He's trying to communicate with us about some important choice, do we listen intently? Are we tuned in so that we are even aware that He is speaking to us? There are so many distractions around us. Our lives are filled with work, and play, and responsibilities, and people, and... the Lord's voice is swallowed up. That is why we must make time, on a regular basis, to pay attention to Him.

Many American workers take pride in their ability to multi-task. They claim they can talk on the phone, read email, and enter data into their Outlook program -as they sip a cup of coffee and scan the newspaper, while the radio plays in the background. Our contemporary offices that are wired and connected make that frenetic kind of activity possible, but studies are showing that all this 'activity' is not generally positive. In fact, the activity that creates the illusion that we are getting so much accomplished, in many cases actually masks impaired efficiency, lower productivity, and decisions that are made without sufficient reflection and good judgment! We are beginning to realize that we will function at a much higher level IF we focus on a task, completing it before moving to another.

Does the Spirit of God have to compete with the TV, with a book, with your radio - for your attention?

I am not suggesting that we all need to move to a remote part of Montana in order to be better Christians! But, we do need to take time out of our day to listen to Him, to be quiet in His Presence. That time, for most of us, optimally needs to be in the front side of the day, not at the end. As much as we might think we are pleasing God as we offer up our drowsy prayers 'round 10 PM, we need to be giving Him priority time as we prepare for the day. 15-30 minutes set aside exclusively to listen to the Lord is an investment from which we will gain rewards for the rest of the day!

Moses, near the end of his life, called the Israeli people together and went over the Law of God that he had given to them. In the ending chapters of Deuteronomy he summarizes it all in passages that outline blessings and curses. Basically Moses says, "If you are obedient, you will be blessed. If you don't obey God, you will fail at everything you attempt." Fundamental to obedience is listening, knowing what God wants us to do. As I close this short TFTD, I urge you to read the next lines carefully - asking yourself as you do - "am I really paying attention to the voice of God?"

• "The word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed.
  
• ... Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life,and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." (Deuteronomy 30:14-20, NIV)

Explicitly we are told to PAY ATTENTION to God's voice. Are you listening?__________________________

When we walk with the Lord
In the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will,
He abides with us still,
And with all who will
Trust and obey.

Then in fellowship sweet
We will sit at His feet,
Or we'll walk by His side
In the way;
What He says we will do,
Where He sends we will go,
Never fear, only trust and obey.

Trust and obey,
For there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus,
But to trust and obey.