Post from July 8, 2023

“👟 RSD 1166 ✅ Today’s Verse: “Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, ‘What does this mean?’”— Acts 2:12

What is THAT song for you? No, not your favorite song or your “power song” or the first song you memorized the lyrics to or your couple’s song. What is THE song that you have been singing completely wrong for an embarrassing amount of time? You know it’s at least one. Has everybody heard “Fantasy” by Mariah Carey? I was last year year’s old when I learned that the lyrics weren’t “Sweet, sweet innocent baby,” BUT, in my defense: after my sister broke the news to me, and I Googled it, Google predictive whatever knew the end of “sweet, sweet _______”, AND the lyrics to “Fantasy” popped up as the first search result. So, I couldn’t have been the only person thinking it. Come on, we all have one. And, before Google, if that CD foldout jacket wasn’t near you (or you heard the song on the radio and didn’t have the album), you were at the mercy of your senses…and our senses aren’t always super reliable. If you’re in the camp that you’ve never sung a song wrong for…let’s say 20 years (y’all, I just never thought to Google it—I didn’t have it on a playlist or anything), try this: have you ever played “Telephone?” A statement like, “I’m shopping for business attire” turns into, “I’m stopping a busy vampire”—both useful activities, but one only requires a coffee, some cash, and a mirror, while the other requires a stake, some garlic…and a mirror would be pretty useless. The point is, we all have times when our listening skills aren’t so great. Sometimes we’re trying and sometimes…ehhh. The crowd in today’s story experienced something similar, with infinitely more to gain from good listening.

Today’s verse is when the Apostles were gathered at Pentecost and were gifted with speaking different languages. “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them” — Acts 2:4. God wanted everyone to know the salvation they have in Jesus Christ, so, to get the message out into the world, the carriers of the Gospel needed to be able to communicate with the people who lived throughout the world. There weren’t great means of translation back then, so common people needed to hear it in their own language to hear it at all—not everyone spoke Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic. There were many people from all over gathered in Jerusalem on this day, so, as you might imagine, there were many languages represented in the crowd. Imagine standing there, and suddenly you hear “[your] own language being spoken…hear [the Apostles] declaring the wonders of God in [your] own tongue” (Acts 2:6, 2:11). In a city where you might be lost in translation a good portion of the time, how comforting must this have been? You hear God’s messages, from a Galilean (who totally doesn’t speak your language…usually), in your own language using the words that mean the most to you. You know that God has made this happen for you: you know that you are seen by and treasured by God. It’s amazing how much more easily the message within the message gets across when a person feels comforted by familiarity. Familiarity and trust. You’ve heard those words before, just in a different order, different contexts, communicating different aspects of life like business transactions or trade education—same words put together a different way to tell a different story, but they are the same words, and you can’t help but feeling that today’s story just changed your life, your future. How important is your future and your hope to God that He made sure you’re hearing about Jesus (your Savior) with no chance of anything becoming lost in translation?

Now, no matter how clearly a story or phrase is communicated, you’re always going to have someone who’s either halfway listening or has something negative to say about it. “But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, ‘They’re just drunk, that’s all!’” — Acts 2:13. There’s always that person. A group of people begin to inexplicably speak languages they’ve never heard—fluently, and there are people saying that, instead of a miracle, they’ve just hit the sauce too hard. Sometimes people just refuse to listen, and they miss the miracle and the message completely. Peter (one of the Apostles) manages to turn the hearts of the naysayers with some reminders of what the prophets had foretold and get everyone on the right track. “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart” — Acts 2:37. Instead of blowing them off (like they were trying to do to the Apostles), Peter takes the time to explain things to the crowd.

At this point, we would all see ourselves as the people amazed in the crowd, full of wonder and eager to find out what greater things are in store. But, that’s not always who we are, is it? Do we always listen? Or, more accurately, do we always listen with open hearts? Do we listen ready to receive the information, or have we already decided what a person has said before they’ve said it? Have we already counted out that person and their message? The truth is this: sometimes we’re the receivers, and sometimes we’re the blockers. You need both parties in football, and you actually need both in clear communication as well. In football, the receivers catch something essential to the game, communication works in the same way. If you don’t receive information, you won’t be able to move forward. What about blockers? The blockers in our story today wanted to throw people off track, so it’s like they weren’t playing on the same team as the Apostles here. If you’re the receiver trying to move forward, blockers from the opposing team hinder your progress. But, if the blockers are on your team, they are blocking unwanted interference so you’re open to receive. In communication, we need to block out extra noise in order to receive the message. I didn’t receive those Mariah Carey lyrics because I couldn’t discern the words entangled in the music. So, how do we block/receive adequately as to hear God’s voice amongst the world’s noises? God gets everybody’s attention in different ways. For our story today, people heard His message in words they could understand, and when people weren’t getting the point, Peter talked to them and tried again; he didn’t give up on them. God doesn’t give up either, even when we’re not the best listeners. When we’re too mad, sad, frustrated, tired, proud, obstinate, etc. to really listen, God keeps working on us and in us, affording us every opportunity to receive the message He wants us to hear. So, the next time you can’t figure out the lyrics to that song, listen for the words only, try to listen for them above the music. Next time you’re trying to hear what God wants you to hear, try to listen for His words above the world’s noise. Unlike the radio, God knows that not only ears listen, so He’ll find a way to allow the right words, feelings, people, signs, etc. to reach you. Straight to the heart—and He’ll make sure you know the right lyrics. 🫶🏻”