THURSDAY: WHO AM I LISTENING TO?

Sep 15, 2022
2 min read

Lord, my head is full of many voices all telling me different things. Please clear my mind of those voices You don’t want me to hear, so You are the only voice I heed.

Jeremiah 29:15-19

You may say, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,” but this is what the Lord says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all the people who remain in this city, your fellow citizens who did not go with you into exile— yes, this is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will send the sword, famine and plague against them and I will make them like figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse and an object of horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them. For they have not listened to my words,” declares the Lord, “words that I sent to them again and again by my servants the prophets. And you exiles have not listened either,” declares the Lord.

Sometimes I look for the right things in the wrong places. It’s like searching for diamonds in a coal bin—I will never find what I’m looking for there. The Israelites searched for prophets to give them a message from the Lord. They wouldn’t find them among those left behind—all the people the Lord desired to transform in His will He had exiled to Babylon.

The Lord chose Babylon for a purpose. The Babylonians did not want to hurt the Israelites, only to assimilate them into their culture. The Lord’s purpose was to help them learn a lesson—that they needed Him alone. While the people thought the Lord had deserted them, yet He was hard at work in their lives.

THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS: When I am going through a trial in my life, I tend to distance myself in relationships also. I’ve come to realize that the very relationships I’m distancing myself from are the very people I need to be talking to and praying with. The Lord put these people in my life to guide and direct me.

When I don’t listen to the people He put in my life, I look elsewhere for guidance, which means I’m not hearing from the Lord. If I’m not hearing from the Lord, instead of getting guidance and direction for my crisis, I’m being led deeper into a pit of despair. That’s not where I want to be.

Lord, help me to turn to You in these times. To turn away from You is to disobey You, and to listen to others is to be led further away from You. Disobeying You to any degree is sinful. You allow me to go through trials, so You can cleanse my heart from these sins. These trials draw me closer to You, so I can hear You more clearly.

May you be blessed,

Chaplain Wayne Ruckman