I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying, for he speaks peace to his faithful people. Psalm 85:8

 

Our human story started in a garden and right from the beginning, we messed up. But it wasn’t all about an apple.

The first sin ever committed actually had to do with our original parents’ ears, rather than their mouths. Before any fruit was consumed, Eve listened, not to God, but to a serpent who questioned, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” (Genesis 3:1) Next, Eve has eaten the forbidden fruit and Adam has listened to Eve and eaten a piece himself.

“The fall into sin in the garden of Eden, before it was ever a taking and a touching of forbidden fruit, was a failure to listen the word of God”[1] points out David Gibson. God says that listening to Him leads to a path of wisdom and security. Jesus said, “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rains come in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock” (Matthew 7:24-25 excerpted).

Of course, God wants us to “pour out” our hearts to Him (Psalm 62:8, Jeremiah 29:12). But it’s in our listening to Him that transformation takes place in us. When we will build regular times of prayer. He also speaks personally to us through what we read in the Bible. May we say like the writer of Psalm 85: ” I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying, for he speaks peace to his faithful people” (Psalm 85:8).

[1] Gibson, David. “Words.” Ecclesiastes, Life in the Light of Eternity, New Growth Press, Greensboro, NC, 2021, p. 51.