I grew up with endless books….truly endless. What a blessed childhood….and a luxury I’ve readily tried to provide for my own children. Of all those endless books, however, there were some that I not only read once, but numerous (ok, countless) times. And….there were definitely books that to my knowledge had been read only once. Devotional books definitely fell into the latter category; they came out with a new one every year. So here I am, breaking a tradition…I’m commenting on an previous year’s morning devotional read. I’ve read it once before…but recently, while trying to gather my thoughts while readying for work, I turned to the devotional from a year ago. And I’m going to share it with you.
Title: I will Tune my Ear to Heaven
Bible verse: And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Isaiah 30:21 (English Standard Version)
Now…I can already see your brain going the way mine was that morning. With a brain prone to attention deficit tendencies, I was already predicting the thought the authors were going to take me. This is a beautiful verse…I love the assurance that it gives me that if I commit my ways to God that He will direct me and even speak to me [I’ve got you] . It says so here in the Bible. Ah, but you and I were both wrong.
And the devotional ended with:
Say firmly: “…I will close my eyes to frivolous and sinful things. My ears are the Lord’s and I will not listen to the subtle reasoning of the enemy. My voice shall not in any way be subject to a will that is not under the influence of the Spirit of God. My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and every power of my being shall be consecrated to worthy pursuits.”
Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church Vol 7, page 64
So that sat me back on my proverbial haunches…and I muddled through it a couple more times over the next few days. The inspirational verse….and the challenge that followed it. I went to work. I came home. I re-read it. (There’s a reason it takes me more than a year to get through a yearly devotional). I got on social media…and scrolled…and scrolled…and scrolled. I re-read. I listened to my radio station. And I think I’ve found the next wall quote for my home. Wow.
And I meant it when I said ‘challenge’…the quote is the challenge to put all else away, the verse from Isaiah is the promised result. I don’t think I know a single person who wouldn’t appreciate some direction to the multiple-choice test we call Life…a little “go this way…do this…this is the right decision”. The prophet Isaiah wrote God’s promise, that He would be this Voice of Direction for us.
But if we choose to listen instead to the ‘subtle reasoning’ of anyone other than God…if we choose to speak or sing or write of anything that is not from God…if we misuse our abilities towards those of unworthy pursuits…. What is that saying, we are what we eat? Well, if we are who we listen to, what we say and post, and what we put our efforts into…and if they are not of God…then neither are we. And when our minds are not God-minded, then we cannot expect to hear the Voice of Direction.
Being able to listen to the Voice of Direction….yep, I think it’s worth consecrating every power of my being toward a worthy pursuit. Now….which font will I use and where will I hang it….
