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NASB | Ecclesiastes 11:6 ¶ Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Ecclesiastes 11:6 ¶ Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle with your hands in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening planting will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both alike will be good. |
Subject: Are you quite sure about that? |
Bible Note: Keyman, I am glad to see you here. If I understand correctly, God has been speaking to you for some time, and you have recently responded by committing your life to him. I trust you will continue to find encouragement in your church and also on this forum. Let me say that one-sided conversations are OK with me as long as the person is talking about the Lord or about what the Lord has said. It happens sometimes in church and we can bear with it, even enjoy it, when the preacherman is telling us “Thus saith the Lord”. I am happy that you read at least one of the passages mentioned in that post before responding. I trust that you considered the others as well. In some sense we are responding now, among ourselves, to a one-way conversation in which God has been speaking to us in the Bible. What has he been saying to us? And how have we responded? Have we even asked him to make it clear to us? We may not like one-way conversations because we think we have something important to say, I suppose. But if God is speaking, we should be willing to listen. This thread is asking us two questions. First, would we be concerned about the possibility God is not directing us and we are acting on our own? Also, when we speak for God, we would hope and like to think that the people are listening. But sometimes it seems they are not listening. Should we continue speaking anyway? God seems to be saying that there are times when he withdraws himself in order to induce us to seek him. We would not want to miss that message. First and foremost, we need him for ourselves, to guide us. He does not want us to go on without him. And when we speak, we want to speak his words, not ours. He wants us to speak when he sees fit and not in a time of our own choosing. But what if we are not listening? I think you are exactly correct in saying that God does not want a one-way conversation. He has spoken to us and he wants us to talk to him. It is not to tell him our opinion, which is often why we want our turn in the conversation, but to ask him. In other words, to pray. Sometimes it seems that God is not talking, but it may be that we are talking and not listening. Sometimes it seems that he is listening and we are not talking, to him. Even now it seems that we are talking to each other and not to him. I don’t think he likes that either, to be left out of the conversation. So, Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things. And Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. |