Listen! Listen! Listen Carefully!

Job 33:14-28, ‘For God does speak – now one way, now another – though man may not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds, He may speak in their ears and terrifying them with warnings, to turn from wrongdoing and keep him from pride, to preserve his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword. Or a man may be chastened on a bed of pain with constant distress in his bones, so that his very being finds food repulsive and his soul loathes the choicest meal. His flesh wastes away to nothing, and his bones, once hidden now stick out. His soul draws near to the pit, and his life to the messengers of death. Yet if there is an angel on his side as a mediator, one out of a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him, to be gracious to him and say, “Spare him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom for him” – then his flesh is renewed like a child’s; it is restored as in the days of his youth. He prays and God finds favor with him, he sees God’s face and shouts for joy; he is restored by God to his righteous state. Then he comes to men and says, “I have sinned, and perverted what was right, but I did not get what I deserved. He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit, and I shall live to enjoy the light.”’ Hark and listen to God, for He cares for you and is constantly trying to reveal your sins to you so that you may be convicted and repent, turning away from sin and living in and for Him. Listen so that you may turn your soul away from the pit of death, the lake of fire prepared for the Devil and His fallen angels. Listen to that still small voice that is warning you to change your ways and live in righteousness. We are but wretched sinners but there is a hope for us, a hope in Jesus who loved us so much that He paid the ransom for our souls at the cross and so now you are redeemed. We have been saved from the pit of death, the lake of fire meant for the Devil and His angels, which is what we as sinners deserve, but by the grace of God, we have been given a new life, renewed and restored having a new hope in Jesus, mercy and righteousness in Him. This righteousness that we now enjoy is by the grace of God, His gift to us and is something that we can never ever earn on our own. Rejoice dear believer because you are now credited with righteousness before God. Our sins have been erased and are remembered no more. We were dead but are now alive, we were living in darkness but are now in light, the light of the world that is in us and shines through us to the world. I shall now live a life of obedient love to Him who strengthens me, the author and perfecter of my faith, the alpha and the omega, my savior who now lives in me and through me, Jesus the Christ, the Son of the true living God.