They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.
If you are reading this, chances are that you would never think of intentionally turning your back on God. But if we are completely honest with ourselves, we can see many ways that we turn our back. We say or do things that we would not do if with thought that God was looking. To use another metaphor, we turn down side roads, away from the path that leads to God.
Like yesterday's reading, today's looks at how well we listen.
This is what I commanded my people: Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you, so that you may prosper.
But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed.
When I took my dog to school, one of the first things he had to learn was "Come." The goal was for you to be able to call his name only once, and say come, and have him come straight to you, with no detours. They even had us hide so the dog could only hear us. The herding dogs in the class did fine. The hound dog would always get distracted on the way.
We should at least be as smart as a dog. We should be able to recognize our master's voice and walk toward it.
The word conversion literally means to turn towards. It's opposite is aversion. All too often we are the hound dog, distracted by the slightest scent of something interesting. We go from conversion to aversion in a split second, often without thinking. Today as you walk through the day, notice how often you change direction:
-letting someone into the road on the way to work, conversion;
-joining in the gossip at work, aversion.
Spend some time today listening for that voice of God, and walk toward it.
