Listen!

Scriptures: “This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength… ” (Isaiah 30:15)

When I cam to this country, I had the blessings of sharing the dormitory with a brother in Christ. He is much younger than I. We shared a lot of things in common. But, music wasn’t one of them. So, for may sake, I believe, whenever he wanted to listen to music, he would put on his ear muff and enjoy his music.

It was really considerate of him so that he could enjoy his music and I could do my study. However, in such time, if I wanted to talk to him, I would have to walk up to him and tap on his shoulder to get his attention. And, only when he took off his ear muff, then I could talk to him.

There are so many sounds in our lives: the traffic on the road, TV, cooking, telephone, neighbors, children, our boss, ministries, and many more. They all seem to competing for our attention. As we try to pay each of them attention, we often get disoriented. We lose sight of where we were supposed to be heading. Moreover, there never seems to be an end to it. It was moments like this that bring us back to our Lord and cry out: “What’s going on?”

But the problem really isn’t with the Lord. The problem is actually with us because we allowed too many things to take up our entire lives. This is like jumping into a project without proper planning. Not knowing what’s going to happen ahead and not having a predefined set of guidelines for addressing issues and problems is a lethal combination to destroy the very project we wish to complete and succeed.

In many ways, our life is like a project. A project initiated by God with a purpose given by Him also. Although we know God loves us and have a plan for us in life, we often run through our lives like children on the playground, going around and around, busy but accomplish nothing. We are on the project. But we proceed on the project without directions from our Project Manager, our Creator and Redeemer. And it doesn’t take too much for us to get lost and disoriented.

God spoke through his servant Isaiah that our salvation lies in our repentance and rest in Him and our strength comes from our quietness and trust in Him. We need to come back to Him and be attentive to what He has to say about our lives, about the way we lead our lives, about the directions He wants us to go and about the bags we carry with us as we travel through this life. In addition to the guidance and discernment, we also need to come to Him for strength and endurance so we will not be weary in this journey.

God said we need to be still and attentive to Him. We need to filter out all the noises in this world, just like wearing my friend’s ear muff, so we can hear Him clear and well. More than that, when we spend time with Him, our relationships with Him grow stronger, too.

I am thankful that we have this daily devotion and sharing time every day. It has been a great blessing for me. How about you? May God richly bless you with His presence and guidance, as He has for me!

Prayer Requests:
For busy people, busy in mind and in physical activities, who desperate in need of the peace and presence of God.

Prayer:
Our Lord of Peace, thank You for Your redeeming love that bring reconciliations to our relationships with You. We ask that, as we move through lives, we will continue to walk in the way and manner guided and empowered by You because we ask in the name of our Redeemer, Lord Jesus, Amen!