Sometimes we all get busy and just survive the day rather than walk in the life of God He has given. However, the abundant life of God dwells within us, and we are meant to be filled with joy and peace, as a light to the world. Jesus declares that HIs joy is in us which enables our joy to be full. We are witnesses of the goodness of God.
In Psalm 95, the Spirit challenges us to "O come let us make a joyful noise before the Lord...Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving." God Himself invites and desires us to enjoy His presence. The opposite, of course, is found in Romans 1 where the rebellious refused to acknowledge God or give Him thanks.
Recently I had a situation where it seemed like I had a thousand things to do, but my kids had planned a couple of events wanting to bless me. My heart wanted to scream, "Just leave me alone, I need to get these things done," but I knew God wanted me to relax, put things in God's hands, and enjoy the time and love that my children were expressing. The time together was blessed and filled with "God's pleasure." That's often the same challenge of spending time with God versus the busy things we have on our schedule. It is like the good seed scattered into the good soil but grows up with the weeds that want to choke it from bearing fruit.
Psalm 95 finishes with the admonition, "Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." The logical question is how do we keep our hearts soft and how do we let them get hardened? If you remember, after the resurrection Jesus rebuked the disciples for their unbelief and hardness of heart, so clearly, we can choose to keep our heart soft or make it hard. Ezekiel in his promise of the New Covenant states that God will give us a heart of flesh rather than a stoney hard heart. God intends for us to have soft hearts to receive from Him. One translation of Proverbs 28:14 states "How blessed is the person who trembles before God, but the one who hardens his heart will fall into disaster."
Our heart is what we have chosen to make important, or that has priority. Seek first. We harden our heart when we hear and believe God is saying something, but we have other things on our mind and heart that we "want" to do, or we simply do not consider His request that important. Jesus quotes Isaiah that the hearts of this people have grown dull and their ears are hard of hearing. The Pharisees honored God with their lips but their heart was far from Him. Hardening of the heart is intrinsically connected to how we hear God, what authority or place we give His words, and our obedience.
On the positive side, God delights in mercy and is always ready to give us a fresh start. When we obey simple impulses or leadings to say or do something, being faithful in little, we open our heart to become more sensitive, and soft for the next revelation. Our spiritual heart is like a muscle that gets stronger, more steadfast, the more that we use it. Hebrews 5 talks about having our faculties trained by practice. So today, if and when you hear His voice, rejoice that the living God desires to speak to you, and make it a priority to obey what He directs. Truly, His desire is our command.
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