Can You Hear, He is Calling Out, Crying Out .... Listen

This morning I could be feeling a bit discouraged and saddened, God is crying out from His heart and it is at times hard to hear, hard to take.  He is speaking in love, in truth and in words that prick my heart as I listen to His.

I am continuing to read thru Bible in one year and am currently in Jeremiah, 1 Thessalonians, and going thru the book of Psalms and Proverbs. The Jeremiahs passage for today is 16:16 thru 18:23 and God continues to offer warnings of turning away and the blessings that He offers to those who walkin trusting in Him.   He lays out very directly He is God alone and to be worshipped, yet the people (all of us) turn and reject Him, after hearing.  How sad, to be offered a blessing and yet turn from it, I can't imagine how that must make Him feel, I know how it would make me feel .... how unloving and hurtful, yet that is what our sin says to God. 1 Thessalonians 4:8 nails it ... whoever rejects the instructions of God rejects Him .... we are called to be holy, set apart to live for God, worship Him alone and trust and obey, yet in our actions and motives that are not toward Him we turn and reject that calling.  The passage is talking about sexual imorality and self control, but this is just one way of living an impure life not worthy of the call to be holy.  We are called to live a life that reflects our love for God (obedience) and to live a life of love toward others (a love that flows out of God's love toward us and our gratitude of the grace shown us.)

I next read Paslm 81 which ends with God again crying out ... if my people would only listen to me, He cries out "Hear me my people, I will warn you", but they didn't listen and so often we (I) don't.  He is offering to warn us, guide us to safety and to feed us, supplying our physical as well as our spiritual daily bread, to quench our thirst with the Living Water, to satisfy all of our needs and desires.  Yet we settle for so much less and in the process act with indifference or arogance toward our very Creator, toward our loving Father.  When we hear Him call out warning us, do we respond with a thankful heart and turn to safety or dow we foolishly continue to chase the empty promises of our lust that lure us away?  Do we continue to walk in the stubborness of our pride and self righteousness?  When we hear Him calling us to sit and spend time with Him, to we respond by saying we are too busy?  When we hear Him call to us to walk in love - sharing, caring and meeting the needs of others, physical and spiritual, do we selfishly keep what we have been freely given, concerned in our own ability or worry about taking care of our selves first or do we respond and follow His leading and trust in Him to work thru and for us?

In closing I go back toward the beginning of Jeremiah, chapter 3:19 - God desires to treat us as His children, children of a perfect loving Father.  He offers to give us a desirable land, a future with a rich inheritence in Him and in fact has secured this for us in Christ .... and this desire of His is for all to receive that would come to Him.  My prayer for myself and for all who read this is that we would hear and respond.  For those that have yet to trust in Christ's work - His death and ressurection on the Cross of Calvary, I pray that you would accept what is freely being offered, but know that it requires something of you - that is your trusting in Him and let me tell you He is indeed trustworthy!  I am glad to share more with anyone that reads this and wants to know more, just email me or post a comment or you cancheck out the following link (to be posted).  

For those of us that have heard Him call our name and turned to Him for true foregiveness and cleansing of our sin, I pray you respond when you hear Him - His warnings, His calling you to act in love and to trust in Him to work thru you and meet your needs, His calling you to sit a while and be refreshed, to be led by the cool waters and rest on the green grass, to be filled with bread of life and drink the living water to have your thirst quenched.  May the Grace of God cover you and flow thru you, it is truly something to  marveled in today and all the rest of our tomorrows and for that reason, I am not saddened but am expectant ... I hear Him and am choosing to respond by turning to Him for His leading, abandoning again myself and abiding where His Grace abounds!