Jacob's Children: 2 Simeon

And He said, Hear now My words

Numbers12:6a

Then she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon.
[Genesis 29:33 NKJV]

Sheep near Duntrune, Mid Argyll.

This densely packed chapter in the Bible seems to suggest that Jacob's children were born with very little interval between them, and maybe that was so. In the natural world there are pauses and gaps and sometimes the space between finding our relationship with Jesus (Behold a Son) and hearing His voice can be immediate or it can take a while. A lot can happen with each of us between these events and The Lord knows when is the right time.

The heading verse comes immediately after our learning of the birth of Reuben. We must see that precept in Scripture to gain understanding. So, as soon as we have been given the life of the the Son of God, His voice will speak.

Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire.
[Deuteronomy 4:36 NKJV]

The second of Jacob's children was Simeon, whose name means hearing. Leah names him for the Lord has heard that I am unloved. The Lord wants us to know that this is not the case; indeed that we are deeply loved, and that this will be made known through a hearing ear. Leah fears that she is unloved, and it may be that Jacob does not care for her as much as he does for Rachel, but it is far from the case that she is unloved. God loves her and answers her prayer because she has heard.

We have to hear from The Lord to 'go on' with Him. And we cannot hear until we have beheld the son within us. The seed has to be planted before it can grow, and it begins to mature by understanding the nature it is formed to be. For believers it means hearing what Jesus says to us, by His word; by His Holy Spirit.

How encouraged we should be that we have a God who communicates with us and shapes us through His word to make us the people He created us to be. As the great John Newton, writer of Amazing Grace, said in another of his songs ...

How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
In a believer's ear!
It soothes our sorrows, heals our wounds,
And drives away our fear.

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"I Heard The Voice Of Jesus Say" - The Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge

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OSWALD CHAMBERS - RUN TODAY'S RACE
Saturday 9th May 2020
Everything that Satan and sin have marred, God holds in an unimpaired state for every son of man who will come to Him by the way back, which Jesus Christ has made [Romans 16:20]

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