People who desire to walk with Jesus must heed the exhortation He gave to the people who surrounded Him to hear His Word: He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 13.9). This advice was not only for those who heard His voice in a natural sense, but also for those who wanted to hear it deeply. When God created man, He gave him the ability to hear Him through His Word, but many do not make the effort to do so.

The psalmist wrote: As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: (Psalm 48.8a), His Church. Until you develop the ability to hear the heavenly Father, you will continue to eat from the hands of others. Now, why let the Lord speak to others if you have this potential? Make an effort to obtain favor from God's hands. This will greatly benefit you. Be blessed directly from the Source!

The statement in verse 8 says that by the way you hear and understand the biblical writings, you realize how Jesus is to you in the Scriptures. After all, faith comes from hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). What the Lord says will be confirmed in those who have seen and heard Him, as the rest of the text says: God will establish it forever. Selah (Psalm 48.8b), Seek this divine gift!

The writer of Psalm 48 remembered the Lord's kindness—the gracious hope or hopeful kindness—revealed in the midst of His temple. Therefore, if we are in church, we need to be reverent and ready to hear what will be said to us. Those who do not fear the Most High do not realize what His servants receive from Him. At that moment, God speaks and acts according to His Word.

Through the prophet Ahijah, the Lord informed Jeroboam that the kingdom of the house of David would be divided (1 Kings 11:29-31). Jeroboam would be given ten tribes to form the kingdom of Israel, and this happened. He was given the chance to cleanse Israel of sinfulness and the consequent surrender to the devil, into which Solomon fell when, at the end of his life, he became corrupted under the influence of the foreign women he had married against God's law (vv. 33-40).

Jeroboam had built an altar in Samaria and went to inaugurate it, but God sent one of the prophets of Judah, who spoke against the altar. The king, seeing the damage done by the prophet, if his words were spread throughout his kingdom, stretched out his hand and ordered them to seize him. That hand became as hard as wood. He could have repented, but he only asked the man of God to pray for him, and his hand was restored (1 Kings 13:1-6).

The king saw the Lord's kindness extended to him, but he did not repent of his sin. Not giving God praise is a huge mistake, for there may not be a second chance. The man of God prophesied other events that took years to happen, but Jeroboam never repented and saw his firstborn son die some time later when he tried to deceive the prophet Ahijah, who had made him king of Samaria (1 Kings 14:1-18). Seeing divine kindness without believing in it is serious!

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares