HumbleDisciple

Some days I walk these paths at lunchtime and just smile. Not because life is perfect. Because I remember.

I remember praying for a way out of a workplace that had become so heavy. I remember asking Yehovah for something new. Somewhere I could do meaningful work. Somewhere I could breathe again.

Then this role appeared literally out of no where.

What still amazes me is that I was convinced it was an ongoing position. I only found out later that it had actually been advertised as a fixed-term contract. Had I known that at the time, I doubt I would have applied. Yet somehow... I never saw it.

Three months later, the role became permanent. Coincidence? I don't believe so.

Looking back, it feels as though Yehovah simply took me by the hand and led me where I needed to be, knowing I would have talked myself out of the very blessing He had prepared.

Now, whenever I get a chance, I walk through this beautiful park (Fitzroy Gardens in Melbourne). The trees remind me that seasons change. The path reminds me that He really does direct our steps.

"Trust in Adonai with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding... and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

I've found that His provision often arrives quietly. No thunder. No fanfare. Just a door opening at exactly the right time.

Father, thank You for seeing the whole road when I could barely see the next step. Thank You for Your kindness, Your patience, and for providing far better than I could have planned for myself. Help me to keep trusting You when I cannot yet see what You are doing. May I never stop noticing the quiet ways You care for Your children. Amen.

This Hebrew word has certainly changed the way I read a lot of Scripture.

𝗦𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗮 (שמע) is usually translated as hear. But in Hebrew it means far more than simply letting sound reach your ears. It carries the idea of hearing with the intention of responding. Hearing that leads to obedience.

That's why Israel's greatest confession begins:
"𝘚𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘢, 𝘖 𝘐𝘴𝘳𝘢𝘦𝘭: 𝘠𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘠𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦." (Deuteronomy 6:4)

Moses wasn't asking Israel to acknowledge that God exists. They already knew that. He was calling them to hear in a way that would shape how they lived. The very next verses speak about loving Yehovah with all your heart, soul, and strength, and keeping His words close every day.

You start noticing this all through Scripture.
When the prophets cried out, "Hear the word of Yehovah," they weren't asking people to sit quietly through a message. They were calling them to turn back to God.

When Yeshua repeatedly said, "𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳," He wasn't talking about people with healthy hearing. He was asking who was willing to receive His words and live by them.

James says the same thing in different words:
"𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺, 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴." (James 1:22)

That sounds very Hebraic. It sounds like 𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗮.

I think we've often reduced faith to learning more. We listen to sermons. We watch videos. We read books. None of those things are wrong. But in Scripture, hearing is never the finish line.

The question isn't only, "𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘎𝘰𝘥'𝘴 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥?"

It's, "𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥?"

Maybe that's why Yeshua ended the Sermon on the Mount by comparing two people who both heard His words. The difference wasn't who listened better. The difference was who actually put them into practice (Matthew 7:24-27).

The Bible's idea of hearing has always been deeper than listening.

It has always been 𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗮.

One thing I've come to love about Shabbat is how it slows everything down. Not because the world slows down. It doesn't... but I do. And when I do, I start noticing things I somehow missed all week.

The laughter of children on the playground. A conversation that doesn't have to end because someone's watching the clock. Sitting with my Bible open and not feeling the need to keep reading. Just letting a few verses sit with me. Praying without glancing at the time. Sitting on the porch, listening to the wind in the trees. Leaving my phone inside for a while.

None of those things are extraordinary. Maybe that's why I miss them so easily.

I sometimes wonder how much of life I've walked straight past simply because I was busy. Not doing bad things. Just moving from one thing to the next.

When Yehovah blessed the seventh day and made it holy (Genesis 2:3), I don't think He was simply setting apart a day. He was giving us a rhythm we would need. A day that reminds us to stop, to breathe, and to remember who He is.

He called the Sabbath a sign between Him and His people, "so that you may know that I am Yehovah who sanctifies you" (Exodus 31:13). I've always loved that. We get so caught up trying to do things for God that sometimes we forget to simply spend time with Him.

Life looks different for all of us. Not everyone can prepare the same way or enjoy a quiet afternoon on the porch. But wherever we find ourselves, Shabbat still calls us to lay down what we can and turn our hearts toward Yehovah.

I'm still learning to slow down. But every Sabbath reminds me that some of the best gifts Yehovah gives us aren't found by moving faster.
They're found by finally slowing down long enough to notice them.

"I give you good doctrine; do not forsake my Torah." (Proverbs 4:2)

This verse should make us ask a simple question. If this is what God calls 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 doctrine... what would bad doctrine be?

The answer seems to be sitting in the same verse: Good doctrine does not teach people to forsake God's Torah.

That has changed the way I listen to teaching. I don't first ask whether it's popular, whether it has millions of views, or whether a respected pastor said it. I ask whether it agrees with what Yehovah has already spoken.

Paul warned that a different gospel would come (Gal 1:6-9). He warned that people could even receive "another Yeshua" and "a different gospel" (2 Cor 11:4).

Those warnings should make us careful. Not every message about Jesus is the message taught in Scripture.

So how do we test what we hear? Isaiah answers it plainly: "To the Torah and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, there is no light in them." (Isaiah 8:20)

And when we come to the last book of the Bible, nothing has changed. God's people are still described as those "who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Yeshua" (Revelation 12:17), and as "those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Yeshua" (Revelation 14:12).

I also find it interesting that Revelation never stops to explain which commandments it means. It simply says "the commandments of God," because its readers already knew what that phrase referred to. Scripture had been calling them God's commandments since Sinai. Revelation doesn't introduce a new law. It points us back to the same God who spoke from the mountain.

From Proverbs to Isaiah, from Paul to Revelation, the pattern is remarkably consistent.

We are saved by God's grace through faith in Messiah. But nowhere does Scripture call it "good doctrine" to teach people to forsake God's Torah.

So when I hear a teaching today, this is the question I keep coming back to:

Does it lead me to trust and obey what God has spoken, or does it give me reasons to set His Word aside?