The true picture

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If words are but pictures of our thoughts, what picture are you painting? It is possible the picture painted would enthrall some, put off others, and not even faze the rest. It is quite possible the words we choose to speak, as well as the ones we choose to never speak, allow others to see 'into' our hearts. God wanted us to know his heart well, so he gave us his WORD to reveal it!

My son, pay attention to what I say. Listen closely to my words. Don’t let them out of your sight. Never stop thinking about them. These words are the secret of life and health to all who discover them. Above all, be careful what you think because your thoughts control your life. (Proverbs 4:20-23)

God tells us to pay attention to what he says because it reveals his inner thoughts, purposes, and power. Herein is the rub - we hear without really listening - not really coming to understand how he works, what he desires, or what is available to us in him. Maybe it is time we learn to put away or pull ourselves away from those things that are distracting us from really listening!

He reminds us we have to listen closely - meaning we might actually miss what he says or misunderstand it all together. When we listen closely to hear something, what do we do? If you are like me, you remove as many of the 'interfering' things as possible in order to 'zero in on' that which I am attempting to hear. I open the door to hear the noise outside. I turn off the TV volume to hear the wind roaring. If we want to hear, perhaps we need to remove some of the 'barriers' to hearing.

Part of hearing is achieved in reconsidering or pondering what it is we have heard. I have a friend who has lost part of her hearing, not able to hear some pitches of sound, and she can miss those sounds totally. There are times she has to ponder the words I speak in order to make sense of them because of that hearing deficit. Maybe we each have a bit of a hearing deficit that we need to deal with, my friends. Ponder for a while the things God is revealing in his Word and you might just decide you haven't been seeing the 'true picture' he wants you to see. Just sayin!

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