Passage Read: Ecclesiastes 3-6
Meditation Verses: 5:1-3
Thought
It is far better to draw near to God to listen and learn, but it seems more likely that when we come to God, we come with requests and wishes and wants and dreams. Solomon understands how easy it is to deceive ourselves into thinking we've received an answer from God when we do most of the talking, when we have fixed in our hearts the answer we desire. We can produce a dream in the middle of the night, as if from God, that promises our desire, or we can hear an answer through our many words, the more the better. If this is so, then how can we discern what is truly from God and what is just the product of our vivid imagination? The more we come, desperate for a particular answer, the less likely we're able to know the truth. The more we come to listen to God speak, to hear and understand what He desires, the more likely we'll understand what He desires us to do and what He intends to do for us.
Application
This is true in conversation with people, as well as with God. The one who comes to speak only hears what he has to say; he learns nothing about the other. So he is very likely to hear exactly what he wants to hear. I can produce a dream at night that assures me of what I desire, of all my heart is fixed on and consumed by! I can become convinced of the logic of my desire if I talk about it long enough. I can convince myself that it is God's will to give me what I want or that He wants me to do whatever I think is right in order to gain it. How easy it is to put words in God's mouth when I want something strong enough. So the only safe way to know what God desires to give me or have me do is to come near to God often, but to listen to Him share His heart and thoughts, and to leave off my wants and wishes, to go to Him to learn what He wants His people to do, and to go and do it. Then, if He grants one or more of my desires, it's not because I insisted on it, but because He graciously blessed and gifted it to me. There's no guilt in that, no second guessing, no doubt, but only sheer delight.