HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR HEARING
Carey Madding
Today's Scripture: “Go to this people, and say, ‘You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.’" Acts 28:26, ESV
Theme: Sin can blind and deafen us from listening to and obeying the Holy Spirit.
SECRET SHAME
Have you ever tried to hide a mistake, like breaking your mom’s lamp, the one you tried to glue back together? Or an ink stain on the couch? Maybe (like me) you left a cotton ball full of acetone on your dad’s new Mahagony stereo cabinet and it took off all the varnish. In any case, until your mistake or deliberate sin is discovered, you walk on eggshells. You may be called to come in to dinner, but it sounds like you’ve been found out. Every time your parents speak to you or call your name, you are waiting in fear for “the talk” and the punishment.
WARPED
Maybe our sin creates the exact same problem with God. We hear Him call, but instead of assuming He wants to spend time with us, or invite us to His table for fellowship, we cower. We hear, but do not understand He has a job for us. We dread His voice, for we think it means discovery, shame, punishment, and disappointment. But could it be that our fear has distorted His words to us? Is our self-centered obsession with our mistakes preventing us from hearing God’s love and desire for us?
God does not ignore sin. In fact, He saw your sin before anyone else discovered it. And sin does hinder your prayers and God’s response! But His heart is for your return to Him. In fact, when He does punish us, it is for the same reason: that we would stop, confess, repent, and return to His care. When we resist that call, we grieve the Spirit of the Lord.
Make It Personal: Is there an area of your life where you are fearful of discovery? It doesn’t have to be a major moral failure. Is there a purchase in your closet or garage you don’t want your spouse to know about? A TV series you don’t want your friends at church to know you watch? Is gossip or lying a sin you regret, but can’t seem to stop doing? The Holy Spirit is both the One who convicts and also the Comforter. Allow Him to gently reveal sin and call you to repentance and a new freedom. Then allow Him to comfort you with the eternal love of God. Afterwards, I think you will find that you can hear and understand His voice more clearly.
Pray: Lord, I do the things I do not want to do. I don’t follow through on the things I want to do. I am sinful and flawed, but You know me and love me anyway. Help me to put aside any shameful thing so that I can be in perfect communion with You. I will never be perfect, but Spirit, convict and call me back to right relationship with You. Empower me to not only put aside sin but to hear and understand Your words to me. In Jesus’ Name I pray, amen.
Read: 1 Peter 3:10-12; Malachi 2:13-15; 2 Timothy 4:3-4; Acts 7:51; Ephesians 4:29-30
Weekly Memory Verse: “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30, ESV