Listening to God

If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.

All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:

For God does speak—now one way, now another— though no one perceives it.

In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds,

Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths.

Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil.

For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,

turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—

indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,

and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,

then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

“Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more.

Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.