This post is written to link with Five Minute Friday: write for five minutes on a one-word prompt. The prompt today is “Ignore”.
When I see a word prompt I think, I reflect, I question what does this mean, what does it mean for me? So today the prompt makes me ask, what do I ignore and what do I give my attention to?
When there is an unwelcome task needing done it is easy to procrastinate, to ignore it, to distract and give my attention elsewhere.
What about God? Is it easy to ignore Him, to turn our attention elsewhere? Yes, often it is! I can fill my time with reading; watching TV, distractions anything but actually get before Him. Sometimes I don’t do this intentionally, it is just part of life and just happens when life creeps in and God gets pushed out.
But yes, sometimes it can be willful (sadly)! This happened to the Israelites too, they often willfully turned away from God, they willfully served and worshipped other gods including themselves:
Remember what it says:
“Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled.”
Hebrews 3:15
About 7 years ago I was reading through the book of Hebrews and the above verse was really impressed upon me TODAY when you hear my voice. So a day came when I found a new on-line community bible study; I thought mmh that sounds good, wonder if any of my friends would like to do this with me, but doubts and insecurities crept in and I was about to ignore that voice when I remembered the verse: “Today when you hear His voice, don’t harden your hearts“
So I put it out there and was overwhelmed by the response, seven years later we are still going strong, meeting together on-line over the Word. We have been enriched by the daily study of the word; we have grown stronger in our faith by the support and fellowship from one another, we have been blessed, so blessed and I could have so easily ignored God’s voice and we would have missed out on so much.
What are you ignoring today? Where are you focusing your attention? Are you missing out on a blessing because you are ignoring God’s voice?
Sometimes I think upon the lady
who bugged that bad judge every day,
and he, being pretty shady,
thought, “Ignore her and she’ll go away.”
At first he stayed cold and resistant,
wearing, I think, a nasty frown,
but that dame was so persistent
that in the end she wore him down.
It’s a fascinating parable,
’cause that judge was clearly flawed;
at justice he was terrible,
and that is just so unlike God!
‘terpreations vary, so it does seem…
to you, what does this story mean?
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Thank you, Andrew.
I agree with you, this parable shows us what God is NOT like! Rather He is a God of justice and He hears us before we even call.
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personally that parable is a reminder to not give up asking, seeking and knocking…
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Thank you for this reminder, Fiona, today when we hear His voice…examining myself before the Lord because I do NOT want to harden my heart.
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Blessings as you listen to his voice ❤️
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I love how practical this application is! Good reminder to me to obey God’s voice NOW, because I am quite the procrastinator, unfortunately. Visiting from FMF#7
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Thank you.
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A powerful reminder! One we need often, because life gets so busy and we can often be tuned in, happy to be visiting today from FMF, Aliyah at #14
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Thanks for dropping by. X
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Great reminder to hear God’s voice today! I am blessed by a weekly Bible study with faithful women.
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Thanks for stopping by. X
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I love how your Bible study has been such a blessing – all because you listened to God and didn’t ignore his prompting.
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Thank you, Fiona. TODAY, when I hear His voice… I will obey, please God. It is the only sensible response! It has taken me years to realise!
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