Colossians 3:16; Psalm 119:9-16 – Listening to the Word
If the Word of God is to ‘dwell richly’ in the child of God, he is first of all to listen to the Word. This is more than a mere hearing the sounds of words as they are preached or to skim quickly over the words as they are read. We always need to ask ‘what is God wanting to say to me here?’ How many times has somebody been speaking to us, and we have had to say, ‘I’m sorry, what was that you said?’ Has that ever been the case when we are supposed to be listening to the Word of God?
If we truly listen to the Word, either read or preached, there will need to be a reaction. The Word must be ‘hidden in the heart’ Psalm 119:11 so that we do not forget its teaching and thus fall into sin. It is not a bad practice to memorise passages of the Scripture so that they are always available to us. It was said of the saintly John Bunyan that if you pricked him, his blood would be Bibline! Are our minds so full of the daily newspaper or of television ‘soaps’ that the Word of God is squeezed out?
The Word listened to and hidden in the heart, must then be obeyed (John 14:15) and applied wisely in the daily life. Every part of personal, family, working, and social life must be ordered by the teaching of the Scriptures.
It should also be borne in mind that the Word is given not just for personal enrichment, and certainly not to build up head knowledge, but rather that the whole body of Christ may grow in likeness to Jesus. Every Christian is to be concerned about the Biblical knowledge (teaching) and the practical Christian conduct (admonishing) of his fellow believers.
Questions
- How do we listen to the Word of God?
Prayer Points
- Pray that you would listen to the Word of God.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.