STOP! LOOK! LISTEN!

This type of sign would never work today. People wouldn’t see it, let alone read it and yet, it is good advice. I invite you to briefly consider those three words: STOP! LOOK! LISTEN!

It is good advice to STOP to take inventory … to see what great things God has done for us … to make certain we have our priorities straight, for we could be going on the dead run … STOP to make sure we are on the right track … STOP for rest and contemplation … STOP to consider possible dangers and pitfalls that may be lurking on our path … STOP to gain spiritual rest for our soul … STOP to commune in prayer with our heavenly Father … STOP to drink of the water that quenches all thirst.

Not only must we STOP, we must also LOOK. We must LOOK ahead … about us and within ourselves … LOOK up to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith … LOOK to the Lord for guidance, strength, comfort, peace, companionship, hope, assurance, forgiveness and salvation.  Heed the holy writer who says, “Let your eyes LOOK directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Take heed to the path of your feet, then all your ways will be sure.” … “LOOK to me”, the holy Lord God declares, “and be saved.” May the language of our hearts be, “As for me, I will LOOK to the Lord, I will wait for the God of my Salvation; my God will hear me.” Micah 7:7.

STOP! LOOK! LISTEN! We must faithfully LISTEN to our heavenly Father who says to us, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; LISTEN to Him”. Matthew 17:5.

There are all kinds of voices out there in the world trying to get our attention. LISTEN to Him who created us, redeemed us and sanctified us. LISTEN to the holy, Spirit-filled, power-packed Word of our Lord. We must faithfully, diligently LISTEN for the purpose of discovering: What’s the Lord Jesus telling me about Himself? … about myself? … What warning, admonition, instruction is there for me? …. What does He want me to do or not do? … LISTEN to hear ever anew what He has done for us on the cross at Calvary; that He took our place, paid our price, that in Him we have eternal life.

How important it is that we pause from time-to-time; that we take inventory of our lives; that we make certain that we know from where we have come, why we are here, and above all, that we know where we are going.

To that end it is vitally important that we STOP! LOOK! and LISTEN!

Thank you to David Lonergan for sharing this devotion which has been adapted from Letters, Volume 1 by Cecil H. Skibbe.