Listen to Obey

UV 1488/10000 Listen to Obey
And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams
I Samuel 15 v 22
Each of us is expected to be a leader who listens to the Lord, a Samuel or one who listens to the Lord. Listening to the Lord delights the One who made us. If we truly listen, we will obey His voice. To listen and obey is better than sacrifice. The Word is the voice of the Lord. We should daily listen to the Word and delight in it. There are different types of listening: listen to understand, listen to obey, listen to apply, listen to be warned, listen to teach, listen to learn. Samuel was blessed as he listened to the Lord. We too will be blessed as we practice the different types of listening. Recently, a Russian billionaire has set apart several million dollars for what is known as the Breakthrough Listen project that searches the universe for signals and signs of extraterrestrial intelligence or alien life. It would give us a much bigger breakthrough at no cost but with great reward if we listen to the cues, signals, words and signs from the greatest of all intelligence, the most loving of all beings- the Lord God Himself. Instead of looking for remote and weak signals, it would make more sense to listen to understand who God is, listen to understand who we are, listen to fulfill God's will in our lives, listen to be blessed. But our hearts become hardened and our ears hard of spiritual hearing from time to time and we should command ourselves, "Ephphatha" or open up to listen. Once we listen, we should be willing to change, ready to obey.

From childhood Samuel was dedicated to the Lord. He heard the voice of the Lord calling him by name thrice and he first thought that the blind priest Eli had called him. We too sometimes mistake the voice of the Lord for the voice of people we know. But as we listen intently, we will be able to recognize the voice of the Lord. We should be willing or ready to listen to the Lord. Samuel did not fear in communicating the oracles of the Lord to King David. He boldly shared the words of rebuke and chastening to the king, running the risk of incurring his displeasure and wrath. But Samuel was not reluctant in sharing the Word of God with others. His straightforwardness and truth -telling kept David from straying completely from the Lord who had anointed him through Samuel.

The voice of the Lord distinguishes itself from the din of the world. We should always be sensitive to the whispers and promptings of the Holy Spirit. His Word contains wisdom for practical living. It is eternal and irrevocable. Once it is spoken it cannot be recalled. Like the rain and the snow, it will not return but will sink into our inner being and produce changes and fruit. Just as the moisture of rain, dew and snow penetrates the soil and sub soil, reaching the deeper parts of the earth to melt the salts and minerals of the soil and sub soil and carry it up through the roots into the shoots of plants and trees, the words of the Lord penetrate the soul and sub-soul, nourishing the seed and roots. Jesus asked, “ If the salt loses its saltiness, what can make it salty again?” If a human being loses his god-like qualities, what can restore it? He did not answer that seemingly rhetorical question but the obvious solution is the Word can make us salty again.
Prateep V Philip