Are we listening?

Our Daily Bread
Have you ever been to those funky seminars for work that talk about "listening, but not hearing" or "being present in the moment when conversing with someone"?  I hope they were better than the ones I attended over the years!  I guess I wasn't hearing or listening or whatever!  DOH!

I love the story of Samuel.  God called to the young Samuel.  He thought it was his mentor calling him in the middle of the night because he hadn't experienced God's call before that night.  His mentor finally realized what was happening and instructed him to respond "Speak, for your servant hears".

I thought about my own life.  How many times has God tried to speak to me?  How many times have I answered "Speak, for your servant hears".  I can't think of many.  I will start saying that in my prayer life immediately!

How about you?  Is God trying to speak to you?  What is your response?  Are you listening?

Lord, thank you for still speaking to us today.  Please help us to listen and hear.

Teaching Tuesday
I learned something new about the Old Testament this week in my Bible study class.  Woohooo!  We studied about the four generally recognized sources for the canonized Old Testament writings.  One of the miracles of the Bible is that God lead folks to pull together multiple sources and texts and oral traditions into what we have today -- a description of God from several view points.  I won't go into exhaustive detail.  Here are the highlights of the four sources:
J
J got its designation from the Germans who translated the name of God into JHWH (Jehovah).  This source reminds us that we should not say the name of God out loud due to reverence!  This source refers to God in human terms to describe how he interacts with humans.

E
E got its name from the name of God Elohim that it used in its texts.  Unlike the J source, the E source does not use refer to humans actually seeing God.  This source believes that no human can see God and live!

D
The D source contained mainly the Book of Deuteronomy, but is also intertwined with other books of the Old Testament as well.  It is considered to be the "new law" that was read to Israel during the reign of King Josiah around 621 BCE.

P
This is called the priestly source meaning the texts were probably passed down by the priestly order of the Hebrew people.  There were many more references to the laws and how things worked in the Temple.

You can Google these sources to learn more.  Very interesting stuff!

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May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit - Romans 15:13