I'm not listening!

Tyler and I were having a conversation this morning and I didn’t hear something he said to me:

Me: “What?”

Tyler: “Clean your ears out”

M: “I can’t help it…you mutter too much”

T: “No, you just didn’t hear me and you get on to me all the time about not hearing you”

M: “No, I get on to you because you don’t LISTEN! For instance, I tell you to CLEAN. YOUR. ROOM. Very plain and clear. You just don’t LISTEN although I know you HEAR me”

T: “Oh, see, I thought you said ‘Lay on your bed for a little bit longer and clean it when you feel like it’”

Funny, Tyler, funny LOL! It did make me laugh when he said that but then I started thinking. How often am I guilty of that with God? How many times does He speak to me and I hear what He’s telling me but I don’t LISTEN because I feel that I can just do what I want THEN I’ll make time for what He is asking. See, when Tyler does that, I get frustrated and I end up repeating those instructions a few more times before I end up really getting on to him and have to punish him for not obeying. That’s when he knows I mean business and he gets his room clean. When it gets to that point, we both feel awful for what transpired and then he comes and apologizes for not listening.

I wonder if God feels like that with us sometimes. He patiently and calmly asks us to “go.” Or to “do.’ And we wait. We hear His instructions but it’s not “convenient” for us so we put it off…and put it off. And at times, it takes something drastic to happen before we finally obey. But at that point, we’ve had to go through something or experience something just to see that He means business with us; then we are on our knees asking for forgiveness. It would be so much easier if we just LISTEN the first time and follow His instructions right when He gives them.

Don’t ignore God! Hear His voice and listen to His calling. Our lives will be so much more blessed by LISTENING to Him!

Proverbs 16:20-Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD.

Proverbs 8:33-Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not ignore it.