Be Still...Learn To Listen For God's Instruction

Deuteronomy 33:1-3 -  This is the blessing that Moses the man of God pronounced on the Israelites before his death.  He said: “The Lord came from Sinai and dawned over them from Seir;  he shone forth from Mount Paran.  He came with myriads of holy ones from the south, from his mountain slopes. Surely it is you who love the people; all the holy ones are in your hand. At your feet they all bow down,
and from you receive instruction….

It was customary in that day for a dying patriarch to bless his family before he died….so Moses takes the time to bless the people of Israel by singling out each tribe. He blesses all the tribes but Simeon…and gives no direct reason for leaving them out. Many answers I read pointed to the curse in Genesis 49:5-7 as a possibility. 

The specific here of each blessing is not what caught my heart this morning…it was the last part of verse three. Moses knew that God loved him…God loved this people more than anything.  He wanted them to understand above all else that they should always remember to bow before God and allow him to speak his wisdom into their lives.

How we bow before God is not as important to me as what we do once we have laid ourselves at his feet. Do we just pour out our troubles and praise….or do we sit awhile and just listen to what God wants to pour into us. Moses wanted them to remember that a true relationship has two sides…that communication is a two way street.

I needed the reminder this morning that God is waiting to pour his wisdom and knowledge into this imperfect creature he created and drew to love him. My prayers should not be simply sessions of praise ending with my wants and needs.  I need to do as the Psalmist wrote in 46:10…to be still and know God so deeply that I learn to hear and listen to his voce…like Moses…like Samuel…like Jesus. It is in the deep silence of a visit with God that he will impart the deepest of his secrets with us…so we can learn to use his power to its fullest here on earth.

Father…thank you for the reminder that you have must to pour into any humble servant that loves you.  Forgive me for the times that I talk more than I listen. Help me to learn to spend silent time with you…so you can help me hear your voice….so you can instruct me in your wisdom. Amen.