"PAY ATTENTION!!"

Job 33:31-33                        (ESV)

"31 "PAY ATTENTION", O Job, listen to ME; be silent, and I will speak. 

32 If you have any words, answer ME; speak, for I desire to justify you. 

33 If not, LISTEN TO ME; BE SILENT, and I WILL TEACH YOU wisdom." 

There is mystery behind the person "Elihu" in Job chapters 32 through 37.  Elihu is a name that is not well-known to most people, but he delivered a message from GOD that most of Job's other friends failed to express.  GOD may speak to us in similar ways, IF we "PAY ATTENTION!"  

A few mornings past, one of my dogs saw something outside that made him "spastic"!  He was running from window to window, from room to room, barking and whining, acting as though he was needed in the yard to save the world!  After letting him outside to bark and run from one side of our backyard to the other, he came back inside and took a nap.  The neighborhood dog that caused the uproar was still outside, but the supposed threat to my dog was not as important as his nap!  Amazingly, GOD used my dog to speak to me!  From time to time I get so worked up over what appears to be a monumental happening in my life, when in reality it is merely a "neighborhood dog" causing me to panic!  

In Job 33:31-33 GOD uses Elihu to instruct Job to "PAY ATTENTION, LISTEN TO ME; BE SILENT, and I WILL TEACH YOU wisdom"!  We claim to attempt to listen to GOD without slowing down to hear from HIM.  BE SILENT is not a suggestion to drive to work with the radio playing Christian music hoping to hear from GOD through a song that has a good tune.  GOD rarely speaks to us in storms, usually it is in a "still, small voice" (1 Kings 19:9-18).  He may use a storm (or earthquake) to get our "ATTENTION", but most of the time HE speaks gently to us.  

Most of us would like to be granted WISDOM without having to go through the turmoil of attaining said WISDOM.  Unfortunately, that is not the way GOD seems to work in my life. There seems to be a storm, then a calm!  Maybe if I would "PAY ATTENTION" more, GOD would be able to speak to me and TEACH ME WISDOM without a storm!  Regardless, I need to realize that just because I find myself in the middle of a storm doesn't mean that GOD is punishing me.  HE may be getting me to "PAY ATTENTION" to HIS STILL, SMALL voice!