06/26/2024 – How Must We Respond to God’s Word?
Psalms 95: 6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. 7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand.
Today, if you will hear His voice: 8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work. 10 For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’
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One of the determining factors in our lives and for our eternity is how we respond to the actions of others. Much more importantly, how we respond to God is an overwhelming factor in our future. The clearest evidence of life is responsiveness. A person who becomes unresponsive demands urgent intervention, physically and emotionally. The clearest evidence of spiritual life is responsiveness to the actions of God in our lives. God is constantly manifesting His love and mercy to us. He is constantly speaking to us. God DESERVES, expects and demands a response. We cannot assume that because He is God and He knows how we feel, a response is not required.
We must distinguish between a reaction and a response. A reaction is an immediate, emotional, and impulsive decision that is survival-oriented. A response is a timely, intelligent, and wise decision that is based on core values, and long-term consequences. When something happens to us, or when someone does something to us, we first have a natural reaction. This is natural. We have built-in standard emotional reflexes. They are part of our nature. We must validate them. But then we need to respond spiritually to please God and to secure His favor for ourselves and for those in our realm of responsibility. One of the most dangerous conditions for a christian is unresponsiveness. We respond to God’s invitation, to His voice. Every action from God toward us requires a response.
For every word from the mouth of God, there must be a Godly response in us. Do not harden your heart. Receive God’s word with faith, praise and obedience.