Mark 4:24
And He (Jesus) was saying to them, "Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it shall be measured to you; and more shall be given you besides.”
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I am pretty confident that most true believers know the very important truth that faith comes by hearing what the Lord says, {Rom.10:17} but it is not necessarily as sure to me that we all know the fact that fear also comes from hearing—by what the world says. And do not lose sight of the fact that without faith it is impossible to please God! {Heb.11:6} So it all boils down to what or who we choose to hear. Thus the Lord's warning in today’s Bible verse to be careful what we listen to.
David was a man after God's own heart {Acts 13:22} who walked in faith and wrote so much that we need to hear, things that will build faith in our lives. He certainly listened to the voice of the Lord—at least almost always! He was not listening to the Lord, but rather to his flesh when he saw Bathsheba and followed with adultery. {2Sam.11:2-4} And that led to his plotting the death of her husband Uriah. Again he put aside his faith when he was distracted and fearful because he listened to the voice of his enemy. {Ps.55:2-5}
Thank the Lord for His mercy and grace because David then heard, sought and received forgiveness, just as we can when we fail. So he then wrote about how blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity. {Ps.32:1-2} David was confident in the work, the love and mercy of his coming Son, the Son of God whose shed blood would pay the price for his—and our—failings (sins) by His atonement on the cross.
David was the young man, a shepherd who would walk onto a battlefield to face and defeat the monster of a man, Goliath the champion of the Philistines. And do that while the entire army of God's people were dressed for war and they were shouting war cries but they were shaking in fear and were not about to go out and face that enemy. They did not become fearful when they saw Goliath, but rather, when they heard him! {1Sam.17:11}
That fear had conquered them and kept them frozen in their boots until David went onto the battlefield and said to Goliath, who was sitting down not concerned about this young man with no armor and no sword: “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into our hands.” {1Sam.17:45-47}
That made Goliath get up! And he was up until David put him down! So you and I, saints though we be, must hear from the Lord in order that we have the victory He so dearly purchased for us. As I have said so many times in the past, don’t trust me, test me. Just make sure that you test everything, as the Bereans did with Paul, by the word of God. {Acts 17:10-11}
As a bit of an aside, you might wonder what the Lord was doing during that time of Israel versus the enemy, the Philistines, or perhaps more importantly, what is God doing while YOU are under attack by the enemy. We have actually been given the answer from David who lived it:
“The wicked plots against the righteous, and gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him; For He sees his day is coming. The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow, to cast down the afflicted and the needy, to slay those who are upright in conduct. Their sword will enter their own heart, and their bows will be broken.” (Psalms 37:12-15)
THE RIGHTEOUS ARE AS BOLD AS A LION |
