Leviticus 12, Proverbs 4-5, Mark 10:1-16, 1 Corinthians 16:1-11, Psalm 78: The thing that stuck with me today was the declaration to listen. In Proverbs the young man was told to listen to the instructions of his father and mother. In Psalm 78 the parent was to instruct the child to listen and to recount what God had done for Israel. In both cases the listener would learn and not repeat the unwise and ungodly temptation of those who had gone before them. As we listen to instruction we gain wisdom which is a fear of God and a knowledge to do the things that are best for us. Understanding is to flee from evil and as we listen and understand we will do the things that please God and lead to long life. That life will not just be a lingering life, but an abundant life. The world promises abundance but delivers death. Jesus promises death will yield abundance. Death to my ways and my desires to live to the things that God desires and commands.
It reminds me of a story I have heard Les Hughes tell a couple of times about a woman who was traveling on a plane. She had boarded the craft when a man came running toward the plane and begged the woman not to travel in the fierce storm. He warned the plane would not make it. The pilot of the craft assured her it would and that though bumpy the craft would reach its destination. The woman listened to the man who had run up to the plane and chose to disembark. The plane taxied and took off to a doomed flight. The plane did go down in the storm and everyone on board perished. The man who had run up to the plane to warn the woman was the plane’s creator. He knew the capabilities and the lack there of for the plane he had designed. The woman was Eleanor Roosevelt. Her life was spared that night.
The story is just to remind us that the Creator knows how we will be function and what brings life to us. The devil and even our own desires will carry us away into some deadly places. Listen my friend to the Spirit and to those wise advisors God has placed in your life. It could be the difference between true life and death.