Luke 16:31

“If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead!”

The Pharisees did not listen to Scripture for God’s voice.

They memorized it. They interpreted it. They used it. They enforced rules which they wrung out of it, but they did not listen to it. If they did, they would have embraced Jesus, the One who rose from the dead.

Scripture is to be listened to, for it is alive and YHWH speaks thru it.  To you. Today. It is not to be shackled and forced thru narrow doorways of interpretation to squeeze out what we would like it to say.

The Bible is like a person. If you torture it enough, it will say whatever you want.

If you don’t listen to God, not just in Scripture, but in all of life, you will not believe Him. You will believe in a god of your own fashion and design, but not the true God of the Bible, the one who Jesus perfectly revealed to us.

Meditation on Scripture, listening to God, is necessary to understand it and Him. Meditation is a vital nutrient to our growth.

Proverbs 1:7

Living in reverential awe of God’s sovereignty, goodness, and mercy and in obedience to and relationship with Him is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Fools can’t stand to be told anything.

There are some people you simply cannot be a help to. They are the ones with no teachable spirit.

The more teachable you are, the more you will be taught, the more you will absorb, the more you will enact, and the more you will grow in wisdom and maturity.

If you want to tread water and be “Stagnant Man” just keep on shunning wise instruction, good advice, and truth being poured into you.