Tuning Our Ears

For the past several weeks I have been drawn to the book of Jeremiah.  What do you mean drawn you may ask.  Well it started with some cross references to other passages I was reading.  I read, mostly, in the first Bible I bought as a new believer.  I marked that one up.  It has been rebound twice, needs another trip to the bindery now.  During the cross references I found myself in Jeremiah.  The marks and the highlights reminded me of things I was going through when I made the notes.  It was a comfortable place.

However, the message of Jeremiah is anything but comfortable.  Yet the message of the book is at the core of what the Lord has given me as a focus for my life.  This afternoon I was getting ready to write this post and I got a sense that I needed to read the book again.  I am not done.  But the time has been great.

Two things I want to share from this.  First, when a passage of Scripture comes to mind go there.  One of the ways that God speaks to me – and I know others who have the same experience – is to lead us to passages in His Word.  It is not a audible voice, just a sense that I need to be reading a certain passage.

Second, in order for the Lord to be able to bring passages to mind, you probably will have had to studied or at least read them at some point.  If it is the case that He speaks through His Word to us, it is probably a good idea to be familiar with it.  Start a reading program, most of us have smart phones, and most smart phones will take YouVersion.  YouVersion has more than one reading guide in it.  Pick one.  Don’t be a slave to it.  If you miss a day move on.  This is not a competition or about being perfect.  It is about us tuning our ears to hear the voice of our Lord.  It is about giving Him the ability to say to us quietly, “Go read Jeremiah.”