Listen, Again.

The simple truths are often the ones that we need to hear most.

 

We are perpetually in search of the new and interesting. This is good, to be always learning and seeking, but if this desire is left unchecked, it makes us dissatisfied with what we have already received.

 

I have heard people judging church gatherings on the basis of whether or not they learned something new. There are those who will choose their next church based on how willing the preacher is to pursue theological rabbit trails in his sermons.

 

Yet this value is not echoed by scripture. In fact, one of the regular refrains is to remember and stick to what we already have heard and received.

 

Sure, yes, our infinite God has carved huge deeps into His word, and those who are perpetually playing in the shallows should start wading out, but please do not undervalue the truths that you have heard 1000 times. It's all the same water of Life. It's still valuable and you still need to be reminded.

 

When God gave the regular pattern of celebrating Passover, He told them what to do, when to do it. They were to keep doing it just the same every time.

 

When Jesus gave us the Supper of Remembrance, it was so that we could perpetually have this simple celebratory thanksgiving. It does not lose it's value as it is repeated.

 

Those heady early days of our faith are often characterised by lots of learning something new. We also have times during our Christian walk where it is as though a lightbulb has been switched on, and we see things in a whole new light, growing rapidly in understanding and knowledge.

 

Yet we must not fall into the trap of thinking it will always be the same. Put yourself in the shoes of a faithful 80 year old believer, who came to faith at 9 years old and grew up in a Christian home. She's read the whole Bible through 64 times. She's gathered with the saints on over 4000 Sundays, and heard the Gospel proclaimed faithfully at almost every gathering.

 

Does she lack anything when she gathers with the saints once more this Lords Day? When she hears her 103rd sermon on Ephesians 2, is she missing out? Is that time wasted? Does the Lord have less for this precious saint on this occasion, as opposed to the first 10 sermons she heard on this passage?

 

The revealed special knowledge of God is limited, not in the sense that the Spirits work is limited in applying the Word of Christ, but in the sense that Genesis to Revelation is not getting any bigger. This is what we have received, and this is where we will dwell throughout our days on earth. One day I hope to hear the Lord Himself speak to me, with His own voice in my resurrection ears. While I wait for that day it would be the height of arrogance to say "your Word has grown stale to me and I tire of it."

 

Manna from heaven has been placed in your hand brothers and sisters! You have been given bread in this wilderness! You are sustained by Him who redeemed you!

 

I give the benefit of the doubt to those who have opined the lack of new knowledge they get each week. I'm pretty sure they don't intend to infer that the truth is any less important if it has been heard before. But, even if there is the best of intentions behind such comments, let me extend an exhortation. We need to humble ourselves under the Lord, and be willing to be taught by Him, through His word - perpetually. If I grow tired of His truth, is it more likely that a) there is a problem in my heart? Or b) that God hasn't supplied what is good for me?

 

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Each evening after our dinner, our family opens up the Scripture to read words I have read before. Yet, for the little ones on my knee, it is their first time. I would be depriving them of this truth if I were to skip over the bits that are most familiar to myself.

 

One passage we recently read was Jesus saying: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Mt 7:24–27).

 

As I read this, I remembered a song that went with these words. A simple repetitive song burned into my brain. I started to sing it...

 

The wise man built his house upon the rock,

The wise man built his house upon the rock,

The wise man built his house upon the rock,

And the rains came tumbling down.

 

The rains came down and the floods came up,

The rains came down...

 

This song is 75% repetition, and I was sick of it from the first rendition. However, it was a smash hit with the young ones, and they wanted to hear it again. Then the next night, it was requested again. Then the next night, and the next and the next...

 

I have lost count of how many times I have repeated this simple truth, but you know what? It is still God's truth, and I still need to hear it. I wish that God could make me childlike in yearning to hear it once more.

 

It feels as though sin has scarred cynicism into the fabric of my psyche, and that perhaps I will never truly heed the truths I sing and read and preach. Yet perhaps if I hear it again, and again and again it will be as though God's Word were engraved on my heart ever more permanently, and I will one day be faithfully able to live it out rightly, without blemish.

 

In order to build our life on Christ, a life that can never be moved, we must hear first. Faith comes by hearing, and when we stop hearing, our faith stops growing.

 

 

"Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; 

   bind them around your neck; 

   write them on the tablet of your heart. 

So you will find favour and good success 

   in the sight of God and man." (Pr 3:3–4).

 

"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (Je 31:33).

 

"Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; 

   and I will keep it to the end. 

Give me understanding, that I may keep your law 

   and observe it with my whole heart. 

Lead me in the path of your commandments, 

   for I delight in it. 

Incline my heart to your testimonies, 

   and not to selfish gain!" (Ps 119:33–36).

 

Samuel Lindsay