"DO YOU HEAR, OR JUST LISTEN?"

Good Evening to All!

A while back a precious friend of mine sent me this e-mail as a laugh. I have to admit I did think it was funny (because it sounds like something my hubby would do) It just goes to show God uses all kinds of ways to get our attention! LOL!

To Be 8 again!

A man was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching his wife, who
was looking at herself in their full length mirror. Since her birthday
was not far off he asked what she'd like to have for her birthday.

'I'd like to be eight again', she replied, still looking in the mirror.

On the morning of her Birthday, he arose early, made her a nice
big bowl of Coco Pops, and then took her to Adventure World theme
park. What a day! He put her on every ride in the park; the Death
Slide, the Wall of Fear, the Screaming Roller Coaster, everything
there was.

Five hours later they staggered out of the theme park. Her head was
reeling and her stomach felt upside down. He then took her to a
McDonald's where he ordered her a Happy Meal with extra fries and
a chocolate shake.

Then it was off to a movie, popcorn, a soda pop, and her favorite candy,
M&M's. What a fabulous adventure!

Finally she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed
exhausted.

He leaned over his wife with a big smile and lovingly asked, 'Well Dear,
what was it like being eight again?'

Her eyes slowly opened, and her expression suddenly changed.

'I meant my dress size, you nut!

The moral of the story: Even if a man is listening, he's gonna' get it wrong.

In case you are wondering what this precious picture of the cat/lion is all about, I think it says a lot about the way we can mess things up by using our own perceptions, our own interpretations and our own ideas of what God is saying to us. We listen to Him (or look in the mirror) but do we hear completely what He is saying? (Do we see exactly what is true in the mirror) or is it a distorted or ill perceived idea of what we think is what He is saying? This cat sees a lion in the mirror. If he's not careful, he will bite off more than he can chew. Same goes for us. If we don't hear exactly what God is telling us, and do exactly what He says, then we can get into ALL kinds of trouble.

I changed the description of the husband in this last sentence because I felt the actual word they used was a "slur". It wasn't a "bad" word, I just don't use that word to describe people.

As far as the Moral of the story, I think women do the same thing and are just as guilty of this as men are.

I don't know why this e-mail brought all these thoughts and feelings to the surface, but I'm going to go with it. This is a post about how we must Listen to what God is saying closely, Hear what He is saying and Trust that He knows what is best for us. Listen to what the Holy Spirit is telling us and abide by His Words.

The husband had good intentions. He loved his wife and wanted to make her birthday wish come true. The only thing is He listened but He did not hear what she said. Instead of inquiring a bit more, and getting a clearer meaning, he assumed he knew what she was talking about.

I think that we do the same thing to God. We say we listen when He talks, but do we hear what He is saying? Revelation 2:7 says: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." We listen, but we take what He says and rather than "TRUSTING" in HIM and the fact that He knows what is best for us, we twist what He has told us in our spirits to say what we as humans hear with carnal brains. Thus, misconstruing His whole meaning. This in turn messes EVERYTHING up, and then we whine about it, saying, "I listened to God and look where it got me! SO WRONG! When things go wrong or get messed up, it is usually our doing. We tend to go off half-cocked and assuming we know what God "meant", instead of hearing exactly what He said and fulfilling His will for that particular purpose.

If we pray about it, God will tell us EXACTLY what He wants. Yes, AGAIN I SAY, "We Listen but we DO NOT HEAR. God does not speak to our spirits to allow us to understand our "own" interpretations of what He says. He says what He means. Just because it may not sound logical to our ears, does not mean we are to interpret it differently. A lot of times, God tells us to do things that don't sound logical to us, because He wants to see how much we TRUST Him.

After all, "belief and trust" are NOT the same. Trust goes a step farther. For example, I "believe" God exists, I see the results of Him in the wind, flowers, and everything else He created. I also "believe" He heals, because I have seen Him do it. Do I TRUST Him to heal me when I'm sick? ABSOLUTELY.

I read somewhere that "Belief' is intellectual, and trust is "mental". When a young child is standing on something and daddy's wanting him to jump into his arms. The child believes that daddy will catch him, but does he TRUST him enough to actually jump? Does he take the plunge and the chance that daddy could miss judge the distance and miss catching him? If he jumps, that is showing complete trust that daddy will catch him. If not, he shows doubt which is the opposite of trust.

All through the Bible it says we must TRUST our God. Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. Proverbs 3:5. Mark 12 :30 says And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. Is it possible to truly love someone but not trust them? I don't thing so.

You are probably wondering how I got to this subject from the e-mail. Well, it's simple. The e-mail was saying how the husband listened but didn't hear what his wife was saying. Granted, he heard the "words", but got the meaning wrong, because rather than search for a little more of what she was saying, such as waiting to see if she would elaborate, he assumed she was speaking about age, rather than dress size.

We must LISTEN to God, Hear what He is saying and rather than assuming we KNOW what He wants, we must make sure if what we are "hearing" is what He is saying. If it sounds illogical, we are probably hearing correctly. God wants us to TRUST HIM and sometimes it means doing something that is WAY out of our comfort zone.

I, for some reason, feel like I have been all over the place with this post. It makes sense in my heart, and I feel that I have said what God put on my heart, so I am praying that this is speaking to someone out there and it makes sense to them and will help them.

The Answers for last night's Bible Challenge "The Garden of Eden" are as follows:

1. Pison/Pishon, Gihon, Hiddekel/Tigris, Euphrates (Genesis 2:10-14)
2. b) to tend the garden (Genesis 2:15)
3. c) food (Genesis 2:16-17)
4. b) tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17)
5. to remove Adam's rib and create Eve from it (Genesis 2:21-22)
6. "the cool of the day" Genesis 3:8)
7. c) the ground ( Genesis 3:17)
8. d) nothing (Genesis 2:25)
9. c) with animal skin coats (Genesis 3:21)
10. b) to thwart human access to the tree of life (Genesis 3:24)

Good Night to All and May God Bless!