One Year Bible Reading Plan and Devotional
Today’s Bible Reading: January 17
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Clicking on the Scripture links above will open a new window where you can read the scripture from the Holman Christian Standard Bible at Biblegateway.com or choose the Bible version you prefer to read. Check back each day to get the Scripture to read in the One Year Bible Reading Plan.
Deaf to the Word of God
I’ve heard enough!
An aging lady named Lucy was losing her hearing. A specialist suggested an operation to improve her hearing. But she promptly vetoed the idea, saying: “I’m ninety-four years old, and I’ve heard enough.” Sometimes, we can be just like Lucy when it comes to the Word of God. The longer the preacher preaches, the more often we look at our watch. Or when we read something in the Bible or a devotional that convicts us, we quit reading. Or when the preacher’s words convict, we change churches. We choose to be deaf to the Word of God.
We can also be guilty of tuning out the Word of God, when we have read the Bible through year after after or been in church for a long time. But Hebrews 4:12, tells us that God’s Word is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” That means that no matter how many times we hear the story of Noah and the Flood, Joseph, Adam and Eve, Paul, the life of Jesus, or any other part of the Bible, God will have something new and fresh to say to us through His Word — if we will open our ears and hear. Because God’s Word is living and active, we can never hear God’s Word enough.
We are deaf to the Word of God because we have a sin problem
We can also be like Lucy as we listen to or read the news. Day after the day the news depicts the same thing. It might be a new story with new people, but the heart of the story is the same: crime, hatefulness, anger, revenge – in a nutshell – it tells story after story of sin. And if you are like me, you’ve heard enough. Our world definitely has a sin problem. But we have a sin problem because we have chosen to be deaf to the Word of God.
Through the prophet, Jeremiah, God says in Jeremiah 6:10, “To whom shall I speak and give warning That they may hear? Behold, their ears are closed And they cannot listen. Behold, the word of the Lord has become a reproach to them; They have no delight in it.” I believe that God could say the same thing about our world today. Just as God called Israel to repentance, so He is calling us today. However, in Jeremiah 17:23, we have that Israel “did not listen or incline their ears, but stiffened their necks in order not to listen or take correction.” And just like Israel, we today do not listen or incline our ears, but we stiffen our necks in order not to listen or take correction.
We are deaf to the word of God because of a heart problem.
Our world today seems like it has lost its ability to hear the Word of the Lord. But more that a hearing problem, its a heart problem. The population has become self-centered, prideful, calloused and hardhearted. They want nothing to do with God. They have closed their heart, eyes, and ears to the gospel message choosing instead to live the way they want to.
We find in Jeremiah 17:1 that God says of Judah, “The sin of Judah is engraved with an iron chisel on their stone-hard hearts. It is inscribed with a diamond point on the horns of their altars.” The sin of this world is also engraved with an iron chisel on the stone-hard hearts of its people. However, is Ezekiel 36:26, we find that when we repent God does a miraculous thing with our stone-heard, dead hearts. In this verse, God says, “I’m going to give you a new heart, and I’m going to give you a new spirit within all of your deepest parts. I’ll remove that rock-hard heart of yours and replace it with one that’s sensitive to me.”
Pray for God to restore hearing to spiritual ears
As Christians, we have a responsibility to both share the good news of Christ and to pray for the lost world that God would restore hearing to their spiritual ears and soften their heats to receive it, and to soften their eyes to see His glory, love, and work in our world. Today would you commit to praying for a co-worker, a family member, a church member, and a friend who needs to know the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and continue to pray for them daily until they surrender their life to Him?
Revival for our world is not too late but it begins with Christians on their knees first getting their own heart and life right with God and then to begin praying for the lost and being willing to boldly share their story of what God has done for them. Revival begins with each one of us (Christians)…would you let it begin in you today?
#ReadYourBible #Genesis #Matthew
Now you can enhance your Bible Reading with the Verse Mapping Template
Our Verse Mapping download is FREE and includes 6 pages: 3 pages of instructions for using the template and the 2 page template, plus the cover page. If you’re looking to go deeper into God’s Word, learn more about God and develop a stronger spiritual life, Verse Mapping will help you dig into the scriptures. As you apply God’s Word to your life, you will develop a more intimate knowledge and relationship with God.
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