Day 88: Are You Listening?

Today’s Scripture: Luke 8:4-15

Central Thought: Hearing God is an every day choice

There is a commercial on television for cell phone service with the punch line, ‘Can you hear me now?” And then there is that frustrated parent who cries out to her child, ‘Are you listening to me?”

Jesus basically asked that same question in our scripture reading today. He said, ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (NIV). Are you listening to me? Are you being obedient? Jesus often communicated spiritual truth through parables, which are short stories or descriptions that give a startling new twist to a familiar object or situation.

One time a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town. He told the story about a farmer who went out to plant his crops. As he was scattering seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown. What did Jesus mean by this parable? Does it apply to me?

Some days we read God’s Word, but temptation and the attacks from the enemy take away the Word from our hearts and leave us frustrated. Other days find us receiving the Word with joy when we hear it. Because we are not grounded in the faith, we believe for a while; but by the end of the day we have fallen away. We are heartbroken.

We may find ourselves on any given day hearing God’s Word, only to have it choked by life’s worries, riches, or pleasures. We are distracted as we go about our daily lives. But then there are those days when everything clicks. We read God’s Word. It sinks in, and we grow in God.

Where is your heart today? Are you listening to God and letting his Word take root in your life? Are you open to hearing what He is saying today? Hearing and applying God’s Word is a choice. Let’s choose this day to listen.

Devotional Prayer: Father, help me to listen to Your Word today and apply it to my life. I long to grow in my walk with You.

Today’s Bible Reading: Deuteronomy 9:1-10:22; Luke 8:4-21; Psalms 69:19-36; Proverbs 12:2-3