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Isaiah 30:19-22

Paying attention to that small, stilll voice inside you will keep you on the right track

Soul Food

Isaiah 30:19-22

“People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’ Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, ‘Away with you!’”

Soul Search

• Can you recall a time when you’ve been ready to do something but then you got that feeling that you better not do what you were getting ready to do?
  Can you share one or two examples?

• Do you remember what happened when you went ahead and did what you were planning to do even though you had second thoughts?
  Do you wish, looking back, that you had paid attention to the thought that maybe you shouldn’t do what you then ended up doing?

• If you did end up paying attention to the small, still voice that gave you reason to pause or cancel the decision you were about to make, are you thankful you listened?
  What happened by not going ahead and doing what you were planning to do?

• When you have second thoughts about courses of action you’re planning to take, have you gotten better at making the decision to push the ‘Pause’ button and simply wait?
  Or, do you find you still struggle with hitting the pause button when you want (or think you need) something bad enough?

Soul Moves

• We can all struggle with being in a hurry to get something we want.
  Ask God to help you slow down and take more time with decisions when necessary.

• If you find you’re in a hurry to get something or to get something done, and you have a check inside you that maybe you shouldn’t be proceeding at 80 mph but rather you should slow down to 20 mph, do you have a hard time slowing down?
  Ask God to help you put on the brakes.

• We often get into trouble because we don’t slow down so that we can hear God’s voice.
  At railroad crossings the signs say ‘Stop, look, listen.’
  That’s what you did to avoid being hit broadside by a train hurling down the tracks.
  Ask God to help you slow down long enough to stop, look and listen to what God is saying to you.

• Don’t let the fear of losing something – or losing out on something – keep you going full-speed ahead when God knows that you need to slow down because you’re going to get into trouble or make a mistake.
  Ask God in prayer to help you and give you the courage to let go of things that He knows will only lead to trouble.