Quiet, Listen, Obey

Quiet, Listen, Obey

"Moses and the Levitical priests addressed all Israel: Quiet. Listen obediently, Israel. This very day you have become the people of GOD, your God.” (Deut. 27:9)

We live in a world overflowing with noise—voices, opinions, distractions, and endless activity. In all this chaos, the admonition of this verse rings true today more than ever. Many no longer hear God clearly, not because He isn’t speaking, but because we are hardly quiet enough to listen. If we do not become still, we cannot truly hear His voice.

Moses begins with a simple instruction: Be quiet. It echoes the prophetic voice of Isaiah:

“For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength…” (Isaiah 30:15)

There is divine strength in quietness. As the psalmist puts it, “Be still and know that I am God.” Stillness creates room for clarity, strength, and spiritual sensitivity.

Then Moses says, Listen. Listening is a fading skill in our generation. Everyone wants to speak; few want to listen—especially in the presence of God. Scripture warns us:

“Be not rash with thy mouth… therefore let thy words be few.” (Ecclesiastes 5:2)

When we quiet our hearts, we can truly listen. And when we listen, we can receive instruction.

Finally, Moses says, Obey. Obedience becomes easier when our hearts are full of God’s word. The word you have received, understood, and treasured becomes the word you can obey. But you cannot obey what you have not listened to; and you cannot listen if you have not first learned to be quiet.

So, the progression is simple yet powerful: Quiet. Listen. Obey.

Reflection

Take a moment today to deliberately shut down the noise around you—the mental noise, emotional noise, and physical noise. In stillness, invite God to speak. When His voice becomes clear, obedience becomes natural. Strength, direction, and peace are all found on the path of quietness, listening, and obedience.

Prayer

Father, teach me the discipline of quietness. Calm my mind, settle my heart, and silence every distraction. Help me to hear Your voice clearly and grant me grace to obey whatever You instruct. May my life reflect Your will as I choose to quiet down, listen deeply, and follow wholeheartedly. Amen.

Have a fruitful day,
(Dr.) Emmanuel Okoro
(aka Dr. Lift)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Steady your heads

Steady your hands "But Moses' hands got tired. So they got a stone and set it under him. He sat on it and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on each side. So his hands remained steady until the sun went down.(Exod.17.12 MSG) Consistency and stability are two traits that we need to succeed in life. The Bible says those second guessing themselves will not receive anything from God.  "Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves."(Jas.1.6)  Our text illustrated this very clearly. Moses had an assignment to keep his hand raised. But as human, he became tired and his hand would come down and as that happened his people would lose the battle. So he devised a means to create consistency and stability, he rested his hands on a stone, with support from Aaron and Hur on either side supporting him.  We need this kind of support, the kind of systems an structures that will help to create stability in ...
Read more

Daily ration, daily routine

Daily ration, daily routine  "GOD said to Moses, "I'm going to rain bread down from the skies for you. The people will go out and gather each day's ration. I'm going to test them to see if they'll live according to my Teaching or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they have gathered, it will turn out to be twice as much as their daily ration." (Exod.16.4 - 5) What you do daily determine what you become permanently. God had told the children of Israel that he was going set up rules and procedures for them to follow. In this day and age, we would have said structures and systems but rules and procedures communicate the same intentions.  So God says to Moses in response to the complaint against God about not having enough to eat. God says He will rain bread down from the skies but these bread are to be taken by the people on a daily basis and on the sixth day, they will take a double portion. Take only what the day requires. This will set them in ...
Read more

Be mindful of the crowd of riffraff

Be mindful of the crowd of riffraff "GOD saw to it that the Egyptians liked the people and so readily gave them what they asked for. Oh yes! They picked those Egyptians clean. The Israelites moved on from Rameses to Succoth, about 600,000 on foot, besides their dependents. There was also a crowd of riffraff tagging along, not to mention the large flocks and herds of livestock." Exod.12.36 - 38) These verses bring to mind the parable Jesus told about the wheat and tares. The Bible says the farmer planted good seed but at mid night while men slept the enemy sowed tares among the good seed. When he was asked if the tares be uprooted, he told them no, but that they should grow together. The operative word been grow.  "Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. (Matt.13.30 ) The israelite came out of Egypt not just ...
Read more