Sleeping Through the Train Noise

We become hardened to whatever we learn to ignore. When I first attended seminary, I rented an apartment located next to some railroad tracks. I was soundly asleep on the first night when a train came roaring past my room, blaring its horn. Immediately I jumped out of bed with my heart pounding, as I covered my ears to block the noise. After the train passed, it took me a while to get back to sleep.

The next evening, the same thing happened. I covered my head with a pillow and went back to sleep. Each night after that, I briefly woke up and then quickly went to sleep. I eventually learned to sleep through the train noise without waking up! Because I stopped responding to the train, it no longer bothered me.

For years now, I've always woken up by the beep on my wrist watch. How could I sleep through a train but wake up to a soft beep? It's because every morning I respond to the sound of my watch by immediately getting out of bed. I ignored the train and became hardened to it, but I respond to the beep and can still hear it.

Heb. 3:15 says, "Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." We will become hardened to our spouse if we always argue about what he or she has to say. Do it long enough and it will lead to a divorce. We become hardened to God if we don't act on what He says to do. Eventually we'll get to the point where we don't hear His voice anymore, just like when I couldn't hear the train.

Is your heart hard or soft? What is God saying to you today? Don't put a pillow over your head. Do what He says. He might be telling you to listen to your spouse.

Keep looking up!

Kent

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Previous devotionals can be found at http://www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com/ in the archive.