Spend time in prayer and silence with God asking Him to meet with you and speak to you.
Bible Reading
In the seventh year, in the fifth month on the tenth day, some of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and they sat down in front of me. Then the Word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, speak of me? As surely as I live, I will not let you inquire of me, declares the Sovereign Lord.’ “Will you judge them? Will you judge them, son of man? Then confront them with the detestable practices of their fathers and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On the day I chose Israel, I swore with uplifted hand to the descendants of the house of Jacob and revealed myself to them in Egypt. With uplifted hand I said to them, “I am the Lord your God.” On that day, I swore to them that I would bring them out of Egypt into a land I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands. And I said to them, “Each of you, get rid of the vile images you have set your eyes on, and do not defile yourselves with the idols in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” “But they rebelled against Me and would not listen to me…”
– Ezekiel 20:1-8a
Devotion
The elders of Israel sought an audience with God’s prophet. God reminded them of their history and the failure of their fathers to LISTEN to the Sovereign Lord of Creation. In fact, it was their rebellious hearts that caused God to stop listening to them when they would come to plead their case. This echoes the words of the prophet Isaiah, “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor His ear to dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.”
The Big Question
God describes His people as “ever hearing, but never understanding; ever seeing, but never perceiving.” In the New Testament, we are instructed to “be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry … Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says!” How are you doing at LISTENING to God? Do you just read the Word of God and then set it aside? Do you daily attempt to apply God’s Word to your life and live for Him?
Conclude your time in prayer and silence reflecting on what God revealed to you today.