Listen

L

ast June I had the privilege of working with 250 other French teachers as we graded some 23,000 Advanced Placement (AP) French Exams.  Now you may be thinking that this doesn’t sound like a swell time but I assure you, that although challenging, the work was both satisfying and rewarding.

The exam has both written and speaking components.  I worked on the speaking portion which required me to sit in front of a computer and listen to CD recordings of students speaking French in an attempt to successfully describe situations placed before them.  Some of the exams were outstanding, representing the culmination of years of hard work and practice.  Others were good and some needed work; but they all had one thing in common, all of them required our team to listen to what they were saying.

There is a great difference between hearing and listening.  Last week anyone could have put on a headset and “heard” French, but only by “listening” could he discern what was being said and to what level of success. It is not enough to hear; you must listen and listen closely to what is being said.  Hearing means your ears are working; listening means your brain is engaged and you actually understand the sounds flowing into your ears.

This is the message Moses wanted the Children of Israel to grasp before entering the Promised Land.  In Deuteronomy 30:19-20 we read his solemn admonishment and warning to the people to “listen” to what God’s voice was saying to them.  “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

Notice the choice Moses sets before the people. It is literally a choice between life and death.  Life meant the people would remember the Lord their God and listen to his voice.  They would not only hear his words, they would understand them and obey them.  This is what it means to listen. The people had heard God’s word since leaving Egypt, they had seen his wondrous works, and received protection and guidance from his hand.  Now, they were to take what they heard, digest it, think on it, understand it, and obey it.

We are no different today.  This morning you may be sitting in front of your screen reading this with an open Bible. Perhaps you have read your daily devotion from the Scriptures or perhaps you will do that after you read this.  Reading, however, is only half the process.  Are you taking God’s word into your mind and heart? Are you drinking it in?  Are you listening to what God is saying?  His words are life.  His way is perfect.  His truths are sure.  His love is everlasting.  Listen and hold fast to him.  Are you hearing or listening today?