Listening and Talking to God

Daniel 9-10; Psalm 124; Proverbs 29:5-8

We’re so used to seeing stories about how people heard directly from God, whether in visions or whatever, that we sometimes skip right past this story. What story? The story where Daniel listens to God through the Scriptures.

In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom--in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. – Daniel 9:1-2

We never get past the Scriptures. God spoke through them. He still speaks through them. And through them, we can hear His voice. When we hear Him, we should take Him seriously and respond, as Daniel did:

So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. – Daniel 9:3

Father, may we listen carefully to You by spending time reading Your words in Your Word. And may we not study them just to be sure that we can answer trivial questions about the details we find there; may we listen to take Your words to heart—and respond in fervent prayer.

What is it that makes you forget to spend time in God’s Word—or not to spend time in the Bible even when you remember that you should?