Thursday, November 11, 2010

I Hear You, but Do You Hear Him?

I Hear You, but Do You Hear Him?

Psalm 4: 2, 3, 7, 8 (MSG) “You rabble—how long do I put up with your scorn? How long will you lust after lies? How long will you live crazed by illusion? Look at this: look who got picked by God! He listens the split second I call to him. Why is everyone hungry for more? "More, more," they say. "More, more." I have God's more-than-enough, more joy in one ordinary day than they get in all their shopping sprees. At day's end I'm ready for sound sleep, for you, God, have put my life back together.”

Will Gilmer- Rumors, lies and gossip; why do we enjoy spreading so much of it? Why do we take pleasure in hurting people with our words? Why do we “lust after lies” and are hungry for more?

Sin is a very powerful disease; there are many times when we don’t realize the depth of its grip on us or the affect that it has on our lives. I believe our sin nature is what allows us to take pleasure in spreading lies about someone else (even if it is under the guise of soliciting prayer). The nature we are born with delights to see someone else in misery and takes joy that someone has fallen in some area of their life. The nature we are born with is very twisted and depraved; Satan, who is the epitome of depravity, takes full advantage of this nature that we are born with and uses our carnal natural desires to draw us into these deadly conversations over and over again; with no regard to who we hurt or the relationships we damage.

If you have been the victim of one of these attacks don’t lose heart. Oh, I am not saying that the words that are spoken will not hurt, they will; what’s being said about you may be true and constant reminders of your actions will cause you grief,  but look at the verse of Scripture above, look at what the psalmist is saying, “Look at this: look who got picked by God! He listens the split second I call to him.” Do you see it; do you see who got picked by God? Do you see who God listens to? He doesn’t listen to the liar or the person who is spreading the gossip; He listens to the one who was being scorned (talked about).

Why would God pick the scorned people who are being talked about; why would God choose to listen to you even if some part of what people were saying about you was true… “Then Levi (Jesus newly appointed disciple) gave a big dinner for Jesus at his house. Many tax collectors and other people were eating there, too. But the Pharisees and the men who taught the law for the Pharisees began to complain to Jesus' followers, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy people who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to invite good people but sinners to change their hearts and lives." (Luke 5:29-31) Jesus was eating with people who were used to being talked about, misunderstood and lied on. Jesus was spending intimate time with people who the religious people of that time would have never spent time with; Jesus was spending time with people who needed their lives put back together because of the nature they were born with (sin nature) and what was being said about them.

So Why would God listen to you? God would listen to you because…
·        He Cares for you…” Give all your worries to him, because he cares about you (1 Peter 5:7; NCV)”.
·        Those who rely on His grace cannot brag about their lives or talk bad (gossip) about the lives of others… “Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses; chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:26-30; MSG).
·        He wants you to have His joy, peace and to enjoy life in all the fullness that He intended it to be…  “I have told you these things so that you can have the same joy I have and so that your joy will be the fullest possible joy… I leave you peace; my peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world does. So don't let your hearts be troubled or afraid… A thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I came to give life—life in all its fullness.” (John 15:11; 14:27 and 10:10, NCV), because He has put your, “life back together”, through His grace.

30 comments:

  1. i think that god is always the anwser so you can go to him any time, im sure he would love to listen to you and god really cares for us so we should really listen to him and love him and his glorifying words and we should have our very own time to spend with him meaning put all eletronicics down things that disgtract you and just have time with god to you self

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  2. hai! this is josiah herman. i think God is trying to tell us through this blog post that He actually listens to our prayers. but instead of listening to Him in return, we sometimes ignore what He has to say. we need to start listening to His plan, because we all know that His plan is the right plan.

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  3. i totally agree with josaih because that is every true. Satan is always trying to get us to think that God is going to leave us and everything alot of people in the world gets lost because of Satan. I know because this girl lost her life because of her lies and her mistake she lost her own life because of it. What happened to that girl it totally changed my life . So i learned that i should really listen to God then Ignoreing him. What happened to that girl really helped me that i should listen to God and do want he tells me to do. i wished that she would of learned sooner then so that she would still be alive today. i think that alot of people are lost in the world including my dad he did a bad thing and now he is in jail for it i just he listened to God not his mind.

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  5. Connor- I also think that God talks to us and almost all the time, either we dont listen or were content and wont dive deeper in our realtionship with Christ.

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  6. Krystyna- (im using the office computer with connor) I think gossip is bad cuz we hurt peoples feelings and its mean.

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  7. you have God to fall back on. he wont let u fall completley. God is always there for u. some people dont have God in their hart and that God lets them fall more than people that he knows. every day satan is tring to timp us and we should not let him do that to us. if u think that u are being tempted go to God about it.

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  8. This is Jess S.-I guess that I never realized how much God hated gossip and how much he mentions it the Bible. I thinks its kind of funny that Jesus surprises the Pharisees by answering their unspoken questions
    that is pretty much all I have to say about the new blog.

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  9. i enjoyed that last bullet point the most. i dont think i've ever trully accepted that God cares for me, and left us peace and joy. i'm always thinking that "God deosnt have time for me, He's just caring for someone else" or "i dont want to bother God". thats probably one of big things i'm working on with God.
    I do agree with Jess though, i know God doesn't like gossipping, but i too didnt' realize how much He talks about. ~elisabeth

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  10. i agree w. josiah, God does listen to our prayers but we sometimes dont like his answer, and ignore Him

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  11. well it talks about gossip. why do we enjoy it?
    it it hard to under stand it.
    ( i loved this bullet point
    Those who rely on His grace cannot brag about their lives or talk bad (gossip) about the lives of others.
    GOD DOES NOT WANT US TO GOSSIP...
    He wants you to have His joy, peace and to enjoy life in all the fullness that He intended it to be
    - Parker

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  12. God always hears us so we need to try hard to hear Him even if it takes a long time because His timing is perfect

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  14. I think it is very important to watch what we say about people because we can really hurt people. A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger. gossip will do a lot more bad than good and in the end you will regret gossiping or saying thing to someone. In my mind God is like a big dude that is watching me and waiting for me to mess up and make my life a living hell, but this helps me understand that got loves me and he cares about me.

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  15. We need to listen to God and not ourselves. Even though we are christians doesn't mean we are always right.
    When we are right most of us have a tendency to brag about what we do right. That's only ok if you give credit to God in what we do right.
    I like the 2nd to the last bullet point the most.

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  16. gossip wow so many people do it alot and some times we don't even notice that we are. because usually some people even your best friend will talk behind your back. but you will just do the same thing as them

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  17. I know alot of people, including myself, who struggle with gossip and lying. I think I've gotten better with knowing when to just not say anything, because I don't have anything nice to say, I shouldn't say anything. Many of you have probably heard the saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." This is SO untrue. Words can destroy you inside. I know because I've been through that, but I also have said mean things to other people, and then I feel bad, because I know what they feel like after I said that. And I automatically say something like, "I was just joking!" or "I was just kidding! Sorry!" It's times like these where I need to think before I speak, and then not say anything at all, which is another thing I struggle with on a daily basis.

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  18. Do you see who God listens to? He doesn’t listen to the liar or the person who is spreading the gossip; He listens to the one who was being scorned <--- I never thought of it this way

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  19. I have been on both sides of making fun of - the person making fun and the person made fun of. I know it feels satisfying a lot of the time when you get a big reaction out of someone, but I also know how frustrating it is to be ignored by the person you are making fun of. So when you are being made fun of, you should try as much as possible to ignore the person and what he/she says and does to you, and that person will move onto someone else to pick on soon after you start that. This will work if you come to God in prayer and ask him for patience when being picked on. With our own patience, we will not last long before our anger explodes, but with God's patience that he gives us, we will have more than enough patience to face that person. I am not trying to liberate the person picking on you, but I am trying to show how to overcome being scorned

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  20. Ember- I know it's not our fault we were born with a sinful nature but, when we gossip it is not Adam and Eve's fault. We ultimatly make the choice to sin. When it comes down to it freinds and others may pressure but God gave us a free will.

    Will you use it?:
    a.) God's way, the perfect way
    OR
    b.) Our way, our sinful, stubbotn,stuck-up nature

    You Decide.

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  21. we all love to make our self feel better, since sin is in our nature we fell like the best way to make us better is to put others down on something we never should. i have done this and had this done to me.

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  22. Mary- I agree with Kayla and Corey, words can destroy you and i know that i have problems with gossip and like Corey said we need to have patience and pray to God for help to quit gossiping and patience to those who gossip about you or anyone else for that matter. We need to stand up for other people no matter how hard it might be,(because most likely you'll become the person their talking about.)

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  23. Kayla-
    The part about gossip really stuck out to me, I know I need to try harder on not gossiping about other people, but I also know that it really hurts me when other people say things about me that I specifically try not to do. The first thing I try to do is to ask myself if I did anything wrong, and if I did do something wrong I can always remember that God cares for me and will listen to me.

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  24. i realy like this, i myself have been guilty of gossiping about others at times, but the awesome thing is that God forgives. i have also been a victom of gossip too, and the sad thing is that most of the time, i do it out of revenge for something that that person has done to me before. another sad thing is that i don't even think about how it made me feal when i was gossiped about, but i souldn't even try to get revenge, because in the bible, there is a passage that says, "'Revenge is mine', sayeth the LORD."

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  25. I believe we need to watch what we say. Some of the things we say now that we think is completely harmless can really damage someone. Most of us don't realize the affect some things we say have on others.

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  26. Michaela-
    This devotion really stuck out to me because i know I need to try harder not to gossip, but i also know what it feels like to be gossiped about and it can really hurt your feelings. If you are gossiped about you should ask God on what you should do and ask the person who spread the gossip why they did it.

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  27. Like it said: Sin is a very powerful disease... The nature we are born with is very twisted and depraved. we should all pray and ask god to help us with gossip and telling lies cause it feels good but then it doesn't. god can help us with a situation like that through prayer.

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  28. it can be very hard to not tease or hurt people but i know i can always rely on God for help i am so thankful i have a God that i can rely that much on!!!

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  29. i so agree with montana bcz it is really hard not to tease you just got to remember that she is my friend and i wont tease her or hurt her at all

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  30. Lies are a bad thing and God doesn't want you to lie he wants you to be truthful. Sin can take over anyones life.

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