Listen

Micah 1:2 "Hear, all you peoples! Listen, O earth, and all that is in it! Let the Lord God be a witness against you. The Lord from His holy temple."

Micah…another prophet, another warning and once again, a warning to Judah. The weird thing, though, is that he starts this prophecy with a broad brush. He doesn't just want to get the attention of Israel, he wants to get everyone's attention. Hear this, listen to this, understand this, yield to this, obey this, heed this, pay attention to this. This is for all people. This is for the entire earth and all that is in it. That is pretty broad. It does not leave anyone out. Apparently, people were not paying attention. They were self absorbed and distracted by other things that seemed more important.

It is funny how that happens. This happens to me when I am supposed to be listening for my client to be called for a hearing. I get wrapped up in reading another file, or talking to another attorney, or am interested in an article that I may be reading in the paper (because we spend a lot of time waiting) and my client's name is called. Do you think I hear it? No. The next thing I know someone is coming up to me and saying: "Glen, you're being called." I was distracted and was not paying attention to what was important.

The world was doing this in Micah's day. The world is doing this now. We are so wrapped up in making money, or our careers, or our families, or even our ministries. It is weird, I did it this morning. Normally I get up, take my shower, get dressed and then pray-read-journal. For some reason, today I had other stuff on my mind and I got up, took my shower, got dressed and e-mailed the worship team about plans this week. I got distracted from my time with God. I didn't listen to His voice first and now I am rushing to get my time in. Not good. The Lord is in His holy temple. He is set apart in His sanctuary waiting…waiting for me to be quiet and listen. Waiting for me to slow down and hear. This is really all He wants from us…our undivided attention…our love relationship. It is the Mary and Martha thing. Martha was so distracted with doing that she forgot to sit down and hear and listen. Mary chose what was best, listening to her Teacher, her Friend, her Savior.

So should I.