I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!

Our treadmill faces a window that gives a good view of the wooded area around our home. This morning as I walked, I watched two robins hopping around, pecking the ground. They would hop, peck, then look around. Hop, peck, look around. They reminded me of what we Christians do sometimes.

The pattern that the robins kept repeating reminded me of the disconnect between reading our Bibles, hearing the Bible taught, and what happens in our daily lives. We read our Bible and something convicts us. We listen to a sermon, nod our heads in agreement, and say “Wasn’t that great!” Then we shut our Bibles, exit the church, or turn off the cd or radio and head into the routine of the day with little or no thought of what we’ve read or heard. Life gets tough again, so we pick up our Bibles and look for something that will meet our need. We scan the web for something that catches our eye or ear and gives a bit of satisfaction. That pattern repeats itself week by week, month by month. Like the robins, we hop, peck, and look around.

If we’re not careful, we will never feast and we’ll never keep a steady gaze on the Word of God. Pecking at it–picking and choosing favorite bits–will never give us a solid meal that will provide the sustenance and stamina that we desperately need moment by moment to live lives worthy of the Gospel. To enjoy listening to the Word preached is not the same as listening with an ear to hear what the Spirit says to us. We absolutely must devote ourselves to the true hearing of the Word, allowing it to penetrate every part of our being so that we are changed into the likeness of Christ.

God told Israel, and he tells us, “Open your mouth and I will fill it…Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!” How we need to get serious about knowing God through his Word! Failure to listen to his voice (that means through the Bible) and submit to him is a recipe for certain disaster: he gives us over to our stubborn hearts, to follow our own ways. But if we bring our hunger to him and open ourselves to his work in us, he will fill us with his truth and cause us to walk in his ways. That, folks, is clearly what we’re called to do, and it’s about time we enforce a ‘no excuses’ policy with ourselves and get to the business of asking God to fill us with himself through our serious study of his Word.