Walk of Life – Day 5 – January 2021 – Thoughts from the Book of Proverbs
NEW BEGINNINGS – THE STILL SMALL VOICE
And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! Proverbs 5:13
Voices…we hear them all the time, some sweet, some shrill, some soft and distant, some calming, some that advise, and the list is endless. I have always wondered how it would have been for Abraham and Moses when they spoke to the Lord as friend to friend. In the movie Ten Commandments, the voice artist who dubbed the voice of God became so famous for that role. The voice was powerful yet firm and loving and compassionate at the same time. We hear voices within and without almost all the time and we choose to listen to some and despise the others. We probably hear many voices but we process and obey only those that we actually want to. It is a personal choice.
Many a time, like the writer says, we do not obey the Voice. We take it lightly, we feel lets do it later, we delay, we falter, we do not want to submit in implicit obedience. We do not obey the voice of our parents, our teachers and we get entangled in things that we find it very difficult to come out of eventually. I know of a very close friend who was very adamant to marry the person she was in love with. He was not a born again believer but she somehow made all of us believe that it was God’s will. She later found that he was already married and eventually she had to divorce him. Please remember, my young Christian friend, when you fall in love, you fall…it is your will and not the Lord’s will. How many ever Bible verses you quote to justify your relationship, except the Lord builds the house they labor in vain that build it. Here, it is you who is building the house and not the Lord and it will eventually fail. DO NOT be unequally yoked with unbelievers. I cannot find God’s will in something that is surely and definitely not the will of God. It is as simple as this…stealing is sin, can I say that the Lord spoke to me “go and do it quickly” and then go and steal. It surely makes no sense. Never twist God’s Word for your own benefit. Decisions like a career and a job are decisions that can be reverted. If you really do not like it, you can look for something else, but that does not work for marriage. So that is a decision that you need to be very careful about.
Be very sure that you have heard God’s voice before you take any major decision in your life. The greatest advantage is you can always go back to the Lord and say, Lord you promised now solve this issue. If you follow your own whims and fancies, to whom will you go if you have a problem? And another secret in life, take all your problems to the Lord and to Him alone. Do not listen to the numerous counsellors or in other words, the numerous voices who will advise you. Always first go to the Lord in prayer. The more people you involve, the more complicated an issue becomes. So in this new year, determine that you will only listen to the voice of your Savior first and foremost. There will be voices of discouragement, dissent, criticism, anger, hatred, envy, jealousy, but never let them get the better of you. There will also be voices of flattery and slander, do not be disheartened. I remember when in a hospital bed, awaiting my first baby, with blood pressure at 190/120, I heard a clear voice “Nothing is impossible with God.” Though in medical terms, my 1.5 kg baby may not have been normal, the Lord gave me a normal healthy child. He is faithful. He will do what He promises but we must also be faithful to Him.
Psalm 29: 3 to 9: The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders; the LORD is heard over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD shatters the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf and Sirionc like a young wild ox. The voice of the LORD strikes with flames of fire. 8The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the forests in His temple all cry, “Glory!”
“It is more important to listen to what God is speaking to you than spending most of your time listening to what God told someone else”
New Year Resolution: Lord this new year, help me to hear your still small voice speaking to me every single day of the new year. Help me to be a voice to the needy and downtrodden and also to obey you in whatever I do. Help me never to take any decision in my life without being sure it is you who is leading me. Keep me in thy control and listening to Thy voice.
