Listen
“But you have not obeyed Me; what is this that you have done?” Judges 2:2
Listen
Obeyed – You wouldn’t know the awesome implication of this word unless you read it in Hebrew. It is shama, the verb that means, “to listen”. While it certainly includes the idea of obedience, it is the powerful history associated with this word that rings in the ears of the people. The Shama is the call of God to Israel, establishing the Law (Deuteronomy 6:4), perhaps the most important piece of listening ever commanded. If there is any verb that describes God’s people, it is the verb of listening to His voice. Even Jesus knew how powerful this imagery could be when he said, “My sheep hear my voice” (John 10:3).
The Angel of the Lord implies two amazing things in the statement. The first is that listening to God means obedience. Listening always involves action. It is never enough to just hear the words. They must be put into motion in my life. When I hear God, I am expected to respond to what I hear. The word of God presupposes a relationship of obedience. To hear is to do.
But the second implication is even more important. God speaks to us. Did you realize that this entire story is based on the underlying assumption that these people could actually hear what God said to them? The Angel of the Lord is clear. “You heard me tell you what to do but you didn’t do it.” It’s not a matter of “Well, I wasn’t clear about your instructions” or “I never heard to say anything to me” or “It was all so confusing that I just didn’t know what to make of it.” No, the implication is that these ordinary people, just like you and me, knew what God said. He made it clear to them. They just simply refused to obey what they heard.
Henry Blackaby once said that the greatest skill necessary for a spiritual leader in the 21st Century is to be able to listen to God. Unless we hear what God is saying to us, we have about one chance in a billion of being able to obey down to the last detail. So, the question is obvious:
Are you listening?
Shama, O Israel.
