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Listen while you read: "Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing"1 (Lyrics) |
Isaiah 55:2b-3a – Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live. (ESV)
I'm old enough to remember hearing popular radio program announcers say things like "Don't touch that dial" and "Stay tuned" and "Tune in again next time" that would keep the attention of the listeners during station breaks. I was reminded of that recently when I was driving alone and listening to my car radio. I have some pre-set FM stations that I can find easily with just the touch of my finger on the screen. I've chosen a station for weather, news, and traffic, another for classical music, another for interesting interviews, and one with Christian music and messages. I've pre-selected them because they are what I trust to be informative or uplifting. However, there is another button that is used less often, to scan across all radio stations giving a few seconds of unfiltered hearing of whatever is being broadcast. In a moment of boredom, I touched that screen option, and my ears were blasted with surprising and distasteful noises full of language in song lyrics that I would have thought were banned. It was as though I had turned into a dark, dead-end alley full of dangerous dwellers. I had not "stayed tuned". Look what my boredom had done! The words in the hymn, "Come Thou fount of every blessing" by Robert Robinson, "prone to wander, Lord, I feel it" came to my mind. It was time for me to return to the stations that were pre-set to provide what was good for me.
In the account of Martha and Mary entertaining Jesus in Luke 10:38-42 (NIV), we read that Mary had pre-set her priorities and "sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made." Jesus reminded Martha about her priorities: "You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
Perhaps pre-setting our priorities is something to consider in these days before us. What distracting messages are influencing our attentions and causing us to wander when we are either bored or anxious?
Deuteronomy 11:18 – Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. (NIV)
Prayer: Our gracious Father, You are the fount of every blessing. Tune our hearts to sing Your grace as we listen with great attention at Your feet. May Your Holy Spirit use Your Word to pre-set our hearts and incline our ears to listen only to You. Amen.
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So true, Sharon.
Thanks, Sharon, for another of your special writings. Blessings.
Thanks, Sharon. There are many distracting influences out there, for sure.
Thank you for sharing this encouraging devotional with us. God be the glory! Blessings.
There are many voices and many half-truths – we do need to consult God daily in prayer for the truth – for me as a Christian, it is Jesus our Saviour.
Good thoughts and reminders, Sharon. Your line, “a dark, dead-end alley full of dangerous dwellers” described well the danger of “garbage in/garbage out.”
The man that wrote that hymn, Come Thou Fount turned away from God and preaching not long before he died. In spite of writing that song, he did wander away from God.
Thank you, Sharon, for today’s devotion.
I enjoy reading your submissions.
They make my faith stronger.
Thank you so much,
(Québec)
Oh, Sharon, lately I have often thought it is probably a good thing I am 85 and won’t live to see what is ahead for our children and grandchildren. I sometimes fear for their futures, but then I remind myself that ultimately God is in charge!
Obviously, your devotional spoke to me.
My decision yesterday after morning Bible Study was to stay persistent. Your Daily Devotional prompted me to take the next step and “refocus “as we approach Palm Sunday, Passover, and ultimately, joyous Easter.
Bless you for your timely words,
(BC)
Good morning, Sharon,
It is so easy to push the wrong button in life isn’t it. We have to be so careful all the time that we are not misled.
Thank you for your good words.
Blessings.
Like you, I remember radio dramas such as “The Shadow” starring Lamont Cranston and the introduction which is somewhat biblical. “What evil lurks in the hearts of men? Only the Shadow knows”
And so it is today. The Holy Spirit knows.
Blessings to you and yours for your Daily Devotional today and so many other occasions in the past.
Good morning, Sharon,
A great way of reminding us of where our focus should be in strengthen our faith. Interesting how easily it is to forget and follow the easier road. I have always related to the Martha and Mary story and even though my first name is Mary, I am a Martha in actions. I always think about what needs to be done and focus there. I would think that I was honouring Jesus’ visit into my home and would want to make everyone feel welcomed. I know once it is over, I feel that I did a good job and missed out on some of the good conversation. I guess I have my priorities mixed up.
Thanks for sharing and may you stay tuned in. Blessings.
I just listened to your message.
My goodness, praise God. This is the message that I needed to hear.
I allow and let things get under my skin so much that it puts such a huge burden on me so much so that I find I sometimes can’t go on with my day.
Sometimes the tears just don’t stop. And I should know better. I have walked with the Lord since I turned 29 over 30 years ago.
Your walk with the Lord is a good example.
This morning I was into the book of Job and through Job’s ordeal he talks about not being in control of the things that happened, but through it all he has come out of it a stronger and better man for it.
And this is my goal in Christ.
Part of my problem is I don’t let my self be totally absorbed in the word.
Yes, I listen to a lot of good Christian blogs and I both listen and read my Bible and I am involved in prayer groups on zoom with other totally blind friends and I read my braille Bible, but my attention span is awful.
I hope you don’t mind but I’m keeping your message.
God brought you in to my life for his reason.
And I want to thank you so much for this.
Praise God I am involved in a good church and bible studies, but I know I need to do so much more.
You just helped me to do that. God tells us we need to lift each other up and encourage each other.
Blessings on you and keep up God’s good work.