Title: God Has Big Ears / Topic: Responsibility

Today’s Reading: Malachi 3,4; Psalm 148; Acts 5

Scripture: Malachi 3:13-16
"You have said harsh things against me," says the Lord. "Yet you ask, 'What have we said against you?' "You have said, 'It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.'" Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.

Observation: The prophet speaks a rebuke from the Lord to the people of Israel. They have been believing a lie and living under a deception that it does no good to serve God. Then the passage goes on to say that the people discuss the prophet's massage amongst themselves and that God listens to their conversation and pays attention to who fears and honors him as the people speak to each other. After determining who honors him by eavesdropping on their discussion with each other, God causes a list of those who are faithful to him to be written on a scroll of remembrance. Is this where the idea for the song about Santa Claus came from (He's making a list, checking it twice)?

Application: God has big ears. Nothing we say escapes his attention. There are no secrets from him. So we need to ask ourselves if our conversations with other people line up with what we say to God when we're in church worshipping him. Do we say one thing to the Lord but something else to people we are with? These verses also show us that we need to take responsibility for what we hear and what we believe. We have a choice to receive truth or to believe deception. If we truly want to know what the truth about God is, he will reveal it to us and he will unmask deceptive thoughts so that we can reject them if we so choose. He will remember and we will be rewarded or judged according to our choices.

Prayer: Father, put a guard over my heart and my mouth. May the meditations of my heart and the words of my mouth always demonstrate that I fear and honor you. Reveal to me any deception that is holding me back from being all you have called and planned for me to be.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.