Tag: Blessing

8. Whoever is of a generous heart

Exodus 25:1   The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me

Exodus 35:5-29    Take from among you a contribution to the LORD. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the LORD’s contribution: gold, silver, and bronze;

Deuteronomy 16:16 They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed.  Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you.

1 Chronicles 29:1-30  Moreover, in addition to all that I have provided for the holy house, I have a treasure of my own of gold and silver, and because of my devotion to the house of my God I give it to the house of my God:

Exodus 35:21    And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the LORD’s contribution

1 Chronicles 29:9    Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a whole heart they had offered freely to the LORD.

2 Corinthians 8:12    For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.

2 Corinthians 9:7    Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Mark 10:19  And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

A generous heart is a choice to give of what has been given to you by God.  Do we sometimes think we have worked for what we have and it is ours, all ours, with no thought of it being a gift from God?  Our brains, our job, our physical ability, our place in life is all from God, apart from those consequences of choices we have made outside of honoring, serving, following and obeying God. What we have are blessings and gifts from God.

I was thinking about Job and how he was blessed and then it was all taken away.  Some may look at this and say that it is not fair.  But if we were able to speak to Job I think he would tell us even when it was taken away he was blessed by a deeper understanding and knowledge of God.  In the end all and more was given back to Job.

We look at what we have and think it is not enough.  We strive to get more and more to buy more, travel more, experience more and more stuff that will never satisfy our soul.  We keep, we hoard, we want.

What would happen if we chose to be generous with what we have been blessed with?  What would our lives be like free from want and filled with giving?  A heart choice to be generous with our time, talent, and money are never bad.  However, a choice to not be generous leads us down paths that could end up not honoring or serving God.

Your promise gives me life

Psalms 119:49  Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope.  This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.  The insolent utterly deride me, but I do not turn away from your law.  When I think of your rules from of old, I take comfort, O LORD.  Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked, who forsake your law.  Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning.  I remember your name in the night, O LORD, and keep your law.  This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept your precepts.

The Psalmist understood that God could never forget His word. Speaking in the manner of men, this was a plea for God to fulfill the promises stated in His word. God wants His people to plead His stated promises back to Him in prayer.  “This is, as Augustine said of his mother, ‘bringing before God his own hand-writing.’ Will he not remember his word?” (Bridges) “When we hear any promise in the word of God, let us turn it into a prayer. Spurgeon said that he often carried with him a small book of God’s promises (“Clarke’s Precious Promises”) “If God’s word to us as his servants is so precious, what shall we say of his word to us as his sons?” (Spurgeon)

The Psalmist understood that his trust and hope in God’s word should not be credited to his own spiritual greatness or genius. It came because God worked in him to hope in His word. The word of God is worthy of such hope. When recalled how faithfully and powerfully God’s word had brought him life in the past, he found comfort in his present affliction.

There is no specific prayer for help. Instead, there are “statements by the writer that he trusts what God has written in his law and will continue to love it and obey its teachings. It is a way of acknowledging that suffering is common to human beings.” (Boice)

All should remember that the word of God gives life, hope, comfort There was specific comfort in remembering Your judgments of old, O Lord. So we are comforted and strengthened in hope as we remember how God has dealt with men and circumstances in the past. “The grinning of the proud will not trouble us when we remember how the Lord dealt with their predecessors in bygone periods; he destroyed them at the deluge, he confounded them at Babel, he drowned them at the Red Sea, he drove them out of Canaan: he has in all ages bared his arm against the haughty, and broken them as potters’ vessels.” (Spurgeon)

Does it ever seem like you run to God’s word in time of need, trials, testing, trouble, and then when reflecting back on your life you see how you kept it at arms length in times of blessing?  Does this even make sense to act this way?

Imagine a good friend who you reach out to in times of stress and trouble.  They are always there for you and help comfort you through that time in your life.  They make time for you.  They listen to you.  They encourage you.  They help in many ways.    Now fast forward to the other side of valley you have walked through.  Times are better and you, with the help of your friend, are back on your feet again.  What kind of person would we be considered if, at that point, we stop speaking to our helpful friend?  What kind of person would just use this helpful friend in times of trouble and not in times of blessings?

Do we do this with God?  Do we seem Him as an ATM with an unlimited “Help” card that we can use at will?   He is worthy of so much more.  He wants to be Lord of our life.  He wants us to see His mighty hand, steadfast love, and awesome power in both times of trials and blessings.  He wants us to willingly and with a longing heart want to hear His quiet small voice.  He wants us to do His will.  He wants us to trust His plan and purpose for our life.

If you are in a time of trial, turn to Him.  If you are in a time of blessing, run faster to Him each day.  In all things give thanks.  At all times Honor God.  Do not forget He is worthy of all praise, honor, glory with our absolute humble service and obedience – ALL OT THE TIME

He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress

Psalms 112:6  For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever.  He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD. His heart is steady; he will not be afraid, until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.

 Psalms 62:2    He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.

 Psalms 62:6    He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

 Psalms 125:1   Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.

 2 Peter 1:5-11    For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,  and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,  and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.  For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.  Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 Proverbs 10:7     The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.

It is one thing to say God is my rock, my fortress, and I will not be shaken but, it takes great care to keep from being side tracked.  Sometimes we pray without trust in God and His plan, His purpose.  Our walk with Him will yield more peace, joy, hope, love, and rest if we would but fully trust in Him alone.  Christ prayed this way, “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”  For certain this life will throw us many trials and troubles.  Money, family, relationships, employment, etc…. will at sometime hit us hard.  It is in these times we find true peace and rest when it is in His hands.

I will glorify You forever and ever

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

“I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”

Psalms 86:12  I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.

Psalms 103:1   Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!  Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,  who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,

Psalms 104:33     I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

Psalms 145:1    I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.  Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.  Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.  One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.  On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.

1 Chronicles 29:13     And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

Proverbs 3:5     Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Revelation 5:9     And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,  and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”  Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands,  saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”  And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

1 Corinthians 6:20     for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Revelation 19:5     And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.”  Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.

Sometimes we get side tracked and don’t remember the blessings we have been given and are living with. When we forget there is no doubt that being thankful, grateful, singing praise, shouting for joy, commending His might acts of grace, mercy and love, are also left behind.  Look at David and his comments stating that “I will give thanks”, “I will bless you name”, “I will sing praise”, “Bless the Lord O my soul”, and then again where multitudes of angels, creatures, elders saying “worthy is the Lamb”.  We were bought with a great price for a single purpose, to bring us into fellowship with God where we would humbly serve, honor, glorify, follow and obey Him.  We would praise Him and with thankful hearts glorify Him with all we think, say and do.  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.  Blessed the Lord.

Hearts far from God

“Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me,”

“the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful.”

John 15:22  If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

John 3:18     Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.  But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

John 9:41    Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

John 12:48     The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

Ezekiel 2:5     And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house)

Ezekiel 33:31     And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain.  And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it.

Acts 17:30     The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

Hebrews 6:4     For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,  and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,  and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.  For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.  But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

James 4:17     So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Romans 1:20     For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Romans 2:1     Therefore you have no excuse

1 Peter 2:16     Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

Revelation 3:15  “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

How do we know if our heart is hard? How do we know if we are only serving God with our mouth and not our heart, mind, and soul?  What are we going to be held accountable for?  What does it mean to be without excuse?  What does it take to be rejected or, for that matter, restored?  How do we know if we are lukewarm?   I remember it being considered normal to attend Sunday morning bible study, then worship service, then Sunday evening study, having a couples bible study during the week, Wednesday evening prayer meeting, and a mens bible study one morning during the week.  Being in God’s word throughout the week.  It does not seem this is the norm any more.  In fact it appears that if we are attending Sunday morning worship service every week we are considered a fanatic.  The expectation for what it means to humbly serve, honor, follow, and obey God has dropped to a very low expectation in our culture.  We need to be mindful of our heart, mind and soul and the influence of the world and it’s expectation making us think we are in some way serving God with a lukewarm life.  We are meant to be a light shinning in the darkness, making disciples, serving God,  feeding on His word,  knowing His word, meditating on His word, hearing His whispers of guidance, being led by the Holy Spirit, finding purpose each day seeking to honor Him.  How is this done if our we neglect His word?  Scripture is clear we are without excuse for being complacent.  Praise be to God that He pursues us and draws us back to Himself.  Praise to Him for not leaving us in a state of being lukewarm.  Praise to Him for standing at the door of our heart knocking.  Praise to Him for His steadfast love.  Forget doing right and wrong and thinking this in someway makes it right with God.  Come to Him broken and seek His building you up into a humble servant.  Seek to honor Him.  Desire to follow and obey Him for the purpose of glorifying Him.  Run to Him for His leading in your life.  Yield fully in service to Him.  SPEND TIME IN HIS WORD

You looked for much

“Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce;  then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.”

“But a firstborn of animals, which as a firstborn belongs to the LORD, no man may dedicate; whether ox or sheep, it is the LORD’s.”

“ Out of all the gifts to you, you shall present every contribution due to the LORD; from each its best part is to be dedicated.”

“For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord,”

Malachi 3:6    “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts.     But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.  Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.  I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts.

1 John 3:17   But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?  Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

1 Corinthians 16:2    On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.

Haggai 1:9     You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the LORD of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house.

Giving is one of the blessings God allows us to share.  He supplies and then tells us to set aside the first of it and be prepared to give it to our church and those in need.  Yet scripture is clear on man’s heart.  We choose to serve ourselves first and God and others second with what is left over.  However God expects us to give first.  Many go through life without knowing the true blessings that comes from a heart desire to humbly serve God through giving.  We are not to give out of our excess but out of what comes in first.  The guide for us is to give 10% to support ministry (our church) and then above this offerings of thanks, and then contributions for those in need. (those special needs that others have and that God is leading you to give towards.) You can hear His whispers of guidance in giving if your heart is set to listen.  If we follow this guidance with a single purpose in our heart to honor Him, blessings flow.  Purpose to give of your firsts.

Stronghold in time of Trouble

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

Psalms 37:39  The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; he is their stronghold in the time of trouble. The LORD helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.

Psalms 3:8    Salvation belongs to the LORD; your blessing be on your people!

Romans 10:13  For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Jeremiah 33:3   Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

Jonah 2:9   But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!”

Isaiah 12:2   “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”

Ephesians 2:8   For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

2 Timothy 4:17   But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.

Colossians 1:11   being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;

2 Corinthians 1:9  Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.  He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again

Isaiah 33:2   O LORD, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.

Psalms 9:9   The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

How many times do we face trouble and fall into the trap of worry, fret, impatience, and unrest?  It is easy isn’t it.  God can be our refuge, strength, hope, joy, peace, rest and power if we but go to Him and leave it in His all powerful hands.  I recently faced a couple of issues that were eating at me and for over two weeks I kept them to myself and did not leave them or even take them to my heavenly Father.  Those two weeks were filled with anxiousness, worry, and with out hope yet my first inclination was to try to handle this myself.  Every attempt failed and fueled the worry and anxiousness.  Then laying on my pillow I asked for His help.  Amazing both of these issues came with resolution.  I should not be amazed though should I.  God is able to do more than we ask and much more than we can imagine.  I should not look with amazement but rather with trust and know without doubt that God is sovereign and in control and will handle this in His time with His purpose.

Giving to the Poor

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,”

“give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Psalms 37:26  He is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing.

Psalms 37:21   The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives;

Psalms 112:5  It is well with the man who deals generously and lends; who conducts his affairs with justice.

Psalms 112:9   He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever;

Deuteronomy 15:8  but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.  Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the LORD against you, and you be guilty of sin.  You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.

Job 31:16  “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,  or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it  (for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow),  if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or the needy without covering,  if his body has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,.

Matthew 5:7   “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Luke 6:35  But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

Proverbs 20:7   The righteous who walks in his integrity— blessed are his children after him!

Proverbs 24:33  A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,  and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

Giving is a heart choice and decision.  Giving has two aspects one is obedience and the other is true generosity.  In obedience to God and for His glory and honor we give to those in need.  God opens our eyes to see those around us and puts us on paths for generosity/compassion/mercy to be lived out.  When God shows you a need are you obedient?  Do you start your day with the choice to hear His voice concerning those in need?  Too many times we  are thinking too much about ours selves.  When we dwell on self our heart and ears are closed to God in this matter.  Everything we have has been given to us by God for His purpose not ours.  It is well for us to examine our heart and intents with all that God has given us.  Teach yourself to give, give freely, and be a vessel that honors and glorifies God through generousity.

He is faithful

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”

 

Joe 2:12
“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God?

Deuteronomy 4:29-30
But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice.

1 Samuel 7:3
And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”

Acts 26:20
but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.

Hosea 14:1
Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

Zechariah 1:3-4
Therefore say to them, Thus declares the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the LORD.

“Do not be like your fathers – even when I cried out to them they continued in what they were doing and rejected my pleas”  How would you feel if this is what God is telling your wife, your children, your husband about you? I am confident it is impossible to hear His cry and pleas to return when we spend no time in His word.  We will not seek Him for guidance for our day, we will forget what purpose there is in this life, we will be influenced more and more by what seems right in our own eyes or is socially accepted, we will become deaf and blind to His leading.  God knows all of this and proclaims in His word over and over again “Return to me and I will return to you,” “I will deliver you,” “You will find me,” “Search for me with your whole heart,” “Repent,” “I know your heart, thoughts, and intent,” “I love you so much that I will sacrifice my son for you,” “I will give you peace,” “I will give your strength,” “I will be your rock,” “I will guide your path,” and so many more words of warning and blessing.  Be the father, mother, son, daughter that is spoken of by God as one who did right in His eyes.  Be the one who is a light in the darkness.  Be the one who is able to rightly proclaim God’s word.  Spend time in His word today.

Attentive

“And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law”

Joshua 8:34
And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them

Deuteronomy 28:58
“If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting

Deuteronomy 31:12
Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess

Nehemiah 8:3
And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law

Being attentive is a choice.  Sometimes we make this choice more because we are going through a trial or hardship in our life or the life of family or friend.  Just take a moment and look back at when you were very attentive to God and wanting/needing to hear His voice, know His presence, feel His peace and forgiveness.  Did He ever let you down – no He did not – His promise that He would never leave us or forsake us stands true and firm.  This leads me to the question I often ask myself – Am I being attentive? Am I seeking God with my whole heart, mind, and soul?  Am I being a good servant of what He has blessed me with?  Am I seeking to be used by Him?  Am I allowing His Holy Spirit to fill and lead me?  If I am to be truthful there are days I would say absolutely and other days not at all.  I do know that those days when I am seeking more of myself than God, God uses other bother and sisters to encourage me through some word or action.  Be an encourager to those around you – stay close to God – serve Him – honor and glorify Him – always be ready to be used by Him – Listen for His leading – and OBEY.