In Ecclesiastes 5, Solomon is giving us some words of wisdom about interacting with God. And in verse 2, he says…
Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.
Why is saying this?
In the Old Testament, part of the sacrificial process involved the priest reading from God’s law and then explaining it. So the “listening” is not referring to quietness. Instead, it is giving focused attention to what God says.
When we talk, we cannot do that! When we talk, we are telling God what we think. There is a time and place for that. But Solomon is basically saying, “Hey, don’t do all the talking!” Take time to listen to what God has to say. He is obviously smarter than you, so why would you want to dominate the conversation?
How do we listen to God? There are a lot of different ways, but the primary way that God speaks to us today is through the Bible. So the primary way we should listen to him is through reading it!
I challenge you this week to take the Bible seriously. Not just as a way to check off another task, but to make it important enough that you are giving it devoted time on a daily basis. If you will get in Scripture – and listen well – then his words will challenge you, grow you, correct you, and encourage you (see Hebrews 4:12).
If you do not stop and listen to him, then don’t be surprised if you look back on the past year and see no spiritual growth. There are some people who read the Bible and don’t obey God. But I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t read the Bible and obeys God. So will reading the Bible make you perfect? No! But if you do not get in the Bible, you are setting yourself up for spiritual decay.
Take time today to LISTEN to what God is saying. And that starts with dusting off the Bible, opening it up, and reading what he has to say.