Oh, That My People Would Listen to Me

The title of this post comes from a line in Psalm 81. Here are verses 13, 14, and 16 (ESV) from that psalm. 

Oh, that my people would listen to me,
    that Israel would walk in my ways! 
I would soon subdue their enemies
    and turn my hand against their foes.
I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
    and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.

Isaiah 48:18 (ESV) makes a similar point,

Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!

Then your peace would have been like a river,

and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

These passages convey that, by sinning, we choose to forgo something wonderful. We don't want to reach the end of this journey, only to hear Isaiah 48:18 recited back to us!

God's promises are within our reach, but we'll never reach those promises if we resist him and close our hearts to him. Instead, we must actively seek him, And the central part of actively seeking him is never-ceasing prayer!