give us ears to HEAR
1 O my people, listen to my instructions.
Open your ears to what I am saying,
2 for I will speak to you in a parable.
I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—
3 stories we have heard and known,
stories our ancestors handed down to us.
4 We will not hide these truths from our children;
we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the LORD,
about his power and his mighty wonders.
5 For he issued his laws to Jacob;
he gave his instructions to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors
to teach them to their children,
6 so the next generation might know them—
even the children not yet born—
and they in turn will teach their own children.
7 So each generation should set its hope anew on God,
not forgetting his glorious miracles
and obeying his commands.
8 Then they will not be like their ancestors—
stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful,
refusing to give their hearts to God.
It Requires our Attention (1a)—God gives a simple command, Give ear, O my people, to my law. This isn’t difficult to understand. God simply wants us to seek Him. He wants us to be sensitive to His voice in our lives.
■ Now I know that God doesn’t speak to us in an audible voice, but we can hear from Him. The key to hearing from the Lord requires our attention first and foremost. We will never hear from the Lord if we aren’t listening.
■ He will speak to us through His Word. That is how God communicates with us in this day. If you desire godly instruction, go to the source, His Word. The problem that many have in our generation is they are looking for instruction in all the wrong places. The secular news sources and popular talk show hosts can’t give you what you need. There is nothing that will ever replace God’s Word. It must be the basis for Christian living! If you will commit to living according to God’s Word and giving an ear to His will for your life, you are well on your way to obtaining godly instruction!
B. It Requires our Ambition (1b)—Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. Obtaining godly instruction requires more than a listening ear; it also requires a learning ear.
■ We are told to incline our ears to the words of His mouth. That word means “to stretch out or extend, to bend or bow.” It has the idea of putting forth the effort necessary to receive the Word of God. Our lives require that we seek to know more of the Lord. You can come to church three times a week and hear the Word, but if there isn’t a desire to learn more of the Lord, it will not produce the desired result.
■ We need to come to the house of God hungry for His Word. We need to come seeking help for our lives. We need to come with an attitude and resolve to literally stretch ourselves out, bending and bowing unto the Lord with a genuine desire to hear from Him. Did you come with the expectation of hearing form the Lord? Have you come to get help for your life? If not, you need to develop a holy ambition for godly instruction.
It Requires our Acceptance (2–3)—I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: [3] Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. These requirements not only involve a listening ear and a learning ear, they also involve a loyal ear, one that is willing to accept what God has said and apply that instruction to our lives.
■ The Lord had spoken and they had heard, but we find they also had known. This reveals a very important aspect in obtaining godly instruction. Knowing is more than mere knowledge; it involves “recognizing, admitting, and confessing the truth of God.” That is what the Hebrew word yada literally means. When we truly know the Word of God we have submitted ourselves unto it. We have recognized God’s truth; we have admitted that it is right, and we are confessing to do our best to live by it.
■ Many Christians understand what God says, but they are not willing to apply that truth to their life. If we are to benefit from godly instruction, it must be applied to our lives. When we fail to apply the truth we know, we have sinned. Jam. 4:17—Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
17 Listen diligently to my speech, and let my declaration be in your ears.
6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; and listen to the cry of my supplications.
5 For You, O Lord, are good, and ready to forgive [our trespasses, sending them away, letting them go completely and forever]; and You are abundant in mercy and loving-kindness to all those who call upon You.
6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; and listen to the cry of my supplications.
7 In the day of my trouble I will call on You, for You will answer me.
NOW THE boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. The word of the Lord was rare and precious in those days; there was no frequent or widely spread vision.
2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had dimmed so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place.
3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was lying down
4 When the Lord called, Samuel! And he answered, Here I am.
5 He ran to Eli and said, Here I am, for you called me. Eli said, I did not call you; lie down again. So he went and lay down.
6 And the Lord called again, Samuel! And Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, Here am I; you did call me. Eli answered, I did not call, my son; lie down again.
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord was not yet revealed to him.
8 And the Lord called Samuel the third time. And he went to Eli and said, Here I am, for you did call me. Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy.
9 So Eli said to Samuel, Go, lie down. And if He calls you, you shall say, Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 And the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, Samuel! Samuel! Then Samuel answered, Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.
11 The Lord told Samuel, Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of all who hear it shall tingle.
12 On that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.
13 And I [now] announce to him that I will judge and punish his house forever for the iniquity of which he knew, for his sons were bringing a curse upon themselves [blaspheming God], and he did not restrain them.
14 Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for or purged with sacrifice or offering forever.
15 Samuel lay until morning; then he opened the doors of the Lord’s house. And [he] was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.
16 But Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here I am.
17 Eli said, What is it He told you? Pray do not hide it from me. May God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that He said to you.
18 And Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing. And Eli said, It is the Lord; let Him do what seems good to Him.
19 Samuel grew; the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. [Josh. 23:14.]
20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord.
MEANWHILE SAUL, still drawing his breath hard from threatening and murderous desire against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
2 And requested of him letters to the synagogues at Damascus [authorizing him], so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way [of life as determined by faith in Jesus Christ], he might bring them bound [with chains] to Jerusalem.
3 Now as he traveled on, he came near to Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him,
4 And he fell to the ground. Then he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me [harassing, troubling, and molesting Me]?
5 And Saul said, Who are You, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting. It is dangerous and it will turn out badly for you to keep kicking against the goad [to offer vain and perilous resistance].
6 Trembling and astonished he asked, Lord, what do You desire me to do? The Lord said to him, But arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.
7 The men who were accompanying him were unable to speak [for terror], hearing the voice but seeing no one.
8 Then Saul got up from the ground, but though his eyes were opened, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
9 And he was unable to see for three days, and he neither ate nor drank [anything].
10 Now there was in Damascus a disciple named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he answered, Here am I, Lord.
11 And the Lord said to him, Get up and go to the street called Straight and ask at the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying [there].
12 And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias enter and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.
13 But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard many people tell about this man, especially how much evil and what great suffering he has brought on Your saints at Jerusalem;
14 Now he is here and has authority from the high priests to put in chains all who call upon Your name.
15 But the Lord said to him, Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of Mine to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the descendants of Israel;
16 For I will make clear to him how much he will be afflicted and must endure and suffer for My name’s sake.
17 So Ananias left and went into the house. And he laid his hands on Saul and said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, Who appeared to you along the way by which you came here, has sent me that you may recover your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
18 And instantly something like scales fell from [Saul’s] eyes, and he recovered his sight. Then he arose and was baptized,
19 And after he took some food, he was strengthened. For several days [afterward] he remained with the disciples at Damascus.
20 And immediately in the synagogues he proclaimed Jesus, saying, He is the Son of God!
21 And all who heard him were amazed and said, Is not this the very man who harassed and overthrew and destroyed in Jerusalem those who called upon this Name? And he has come here for the express purpose of arresting them and bringing them in chains before the chief priests.