4“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Emphasis mine)
Deut. 6:4-9
What is the Shema? Bible Project Resource
In late 2021 the Lord began working on our hearts to learn more about Him; particularly the gifts of the Spirit. In 2022 we began reading more books, listening to podcasts, and even took a discipleship course together on Saturdays for several months.
Christy was several years ahead of me in learning about the gifts, but I began asking God what it would look like to have a hunger and desire for Him that I’d never experienced. His answer to my prayer seemed to be “Listen to me.”
While I thought I knew what that looked like, I had much to learn. As I prayed, read the Bible, talked to others, stepped out in faith, and did all the Christian things, I learned that listening to the Lord needed to include time and patience. Below is a short list (two-part blog post) of what I’ve learned from listening to the Lord on this journey. The Shema has been an intricate part of my journey. Loving the Lord with all my heart has been challenging, repentance-producing, and is continuing to help me grow as a follower of His.
I hope learning from us is encouraging to you! If we can clarify anything, or our story resonates with you, please connect with me through my site. I’d love to chat virtually and encourage you as you listen to Him too!
1. Recognize My Need
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
Deut. 6:5
I started with my need to love Him. To follow Him more closely. To grow, not as a leader, but as a follower. We fall into routine and forget that God wants us to have a deep relationship with Him. It’s through the Son’s sacrifice we can have it and the Spirit’s indwelling in us gives us the ability to see this need and act on it.
The above is why men like RT Kendall and Craig Keener were so helpful to me last year. Their hunger for more of the Lord showed me that others feel this way too. These brothers also helped me think through the implications of what needed to change in my life and how I could practically begin to put spiritual hands and feet into this growing hunger for the Lord.
2. Intentionality-Being purposeful in my pursuit of Jesus
“Hear this, O foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes, but see not,
who have ears, but hear not.
Jeremiah 5:21
The context of this passage implies effort and action. I picture a mom or an early elementary teacher bending down to look their child/student in the eyes and saying, “I’m going to need you to look at me and repeat what I’m saying to you.”
7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deut. 6:7-9
Deut. 6:7-9 provides evidence of action. We are to teach, talk, bind, and write. Being intentional means doing something! For me, it means making a plan and then following it! Doing so shows Christian maturity, growth as a disciple, and not simply taking in biblical meat, but devouring it in a way that nourishes the believer to provide strength, encouragement, repentance, and growth.
Dave Ramsey fans know this saying all too well:
“Adults devise a plan and follow it, children do what feels good.”
Dave Ramsey
My pursuit was to listen while recognizing my need, but needed to include action. I began to investigate scripture with a heart to hear what the Spirit says in the Bible and to learn how to listen to what He says to my heart through the Spirit. I read scripture (1 Cor. and Romans 12) with a “what if this is true” attitude. This led to me thinking, “If this is true, what do I need to do or change about my walk with the Lord?”
This is the part that frightened me. What are the implications of listening and obeying? In what ways is the Lord going to change me? What habits, teachings, attitudes, and thoughts need to be broken? What new biblical principles need to be put in their place? And more selfishly, what will people think of me? How many friends am I going to lose? I had a good friend tease me, “You’ve gone Pennycostal!”
Intentionality is a dangerous commitment. It does come with strings. The strings of obedience and repentance aren’t simply abstract Christian words, but demand action. Looking back on my walk with the Lord, I remember many times when I recognized my need to do something but stopped when I knew the next step was being intentional toward obedience and pursuing that which the Lord was calling me into or toward.
What’s funny is that we expect the same from others and God. Nobody believes they are heard when the one supposed to be doing the hearing takes zero action. Sometimes the action required is difficult and takes many steps and time to complete. Other times the action is simply listening and offering a kind word, a smile, and a hug.
Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
Psalm 27:7
3. Hunger
I learned that once I recognized my need and began to intentionally pursue the Lord He gave me a hunger to pursue Him. One problem we have as imperfect people is that often our sin gets in the way of our pursuit of the Lord. The Shema is the perfect prescription to counter the effects of our sin. We are to:
- love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (5)
- Remember that the words of the Lord are written on your heart (even more so since New Testament believers have the very Spirit of God living inside them!). (6)
- Teach God’s Word to our children and talk of it as we come and go. (7)
- Keep His Word before us night and day (bind them as a sign on your hand and as frontlets before your eyes). (8)
- Dedicate our homes to the Lord not in a ritual-like manner, but in a manner of instruction, correction, and encouragement. (9)
This desire, or hunger to hear from God is often squashed as believers mistakenly think they need to be in the “very center” of God’s will to hear from Him correctly. They might believe an equal amount of Bible reading, prayer, and church attendance will provide the sacrifice that sends up a pleasing aroma to God that forces His hand to reveal His perfect and specific will for an individual.
This hunger is nothing more than a deep desire to know and be known by the very God who provides life, sustains us throughout our mountain highs and valley lows, and provides the grace needed as we traverse deep spiritual hurt and depression that may last years.
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.
Psalm 42:1
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Psalm 63:1
My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
Isaiah 26:9
Toby DeHay 
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