You Shall Listen to Him
Scripture Passage: Deuteronomy 18:15-22 (NASB)
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. 16 This is according to all that you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’ 17 The Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. 18 I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21 You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ 22 When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
SUMMARY
Moses tells the Israelites that God will raise up a prophet among them, and that they should listen to him. It is because people trembled in fear when they listened to the audible voice of God directly in Horeb. God desired to appoint a true prophet who would speak for His heart and mind among the people. Moses also warns people that there is a false prophet that the Israelites should take caution to discern.
MEDITATION & REFLECTION
I see that there is a clear distinction between a true prophet and a false one. Although the false prophet may speak a word presumptuously in the name of the Lord, their word does not come true since the Lord has not spoken it. In contrast, a true prophet’s word would never return empty, without accomplishing what God desires. True prophet’s words succeed as God purposes.
As I read today’s QT passage, I thought about which prophet Moses was referring to. Yes, there were many great prophets in Israel history, and also the false ones who were really after their selfish gains. Is Moses referring to the one who will immediately succeed his position? Yes, but I think Moses was also prophesying about the coming of Jesus Christ--the ultimate true prophet who intercedes on our behalf to God. Jesus is the one true prophet who lived out the will of God by dying on the cross for our sin. Passages from Acts 3:22~23 also confirms that this indeed was a prophecy of Moses of Jesus. “Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people. Listen carefully to everything he tells you.’ Then Moses said, ‘Anyone who will not listen to that Prophet will be completely cut off from God’s people.’”
APPLICATION
As Moses said in the text, I should listen to Jesus as God speaks His words through his mouth. I must pay attention to what Jesus said in the bible and obey all that God commanded me to do through Jesus. I must fear the Lord and make sure I do not speak presumptuously out of my own thoughts as not to be a false prophet to others, especially to my kids.
When I am doing QT with my kids, I sometimes refuse to answer their questions because I want to get it done as soon as possible. It’s not that I do not cherish His words, but because I always feel like I am being chased by time. By my reaction of frustration, my kids get timid and end up losing joy of doing QT together. I will try to be more patient with them during tis precious time that myself and my kids can learn His Words and ways. I want to “listen to him”.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, I thank you for providing your precious Words to my family everyday. Sometimes I forget to remember that God speaks to me and my kids through your Words during our quiet time together. I confess my impatience wanting to end the QT abruptly because I get tired of answering my kids’ questions. But from now on, I will try to answer questions from my kids as best I can. Please use my mouth to speak your words correctly. Please bless our time together and allow all of us to joyfully use the time. Amen.
Please share your personal meditations on this Scripture passage with the HolyWave community in the comments section below. (We reserve the right to moderate comments.)