Heeding the Holy Spirit

There was a responsorial Psalm I heard at my old Catholic school once:

"Oh, that today, you would listen to his voice, harden not your hearts. Oh, that today, you would listen to his voice harden not your hearts." It was taken from Psalms 95:7-8.

A lot of us struggle with "hearing" God's voice, and I don't have much to say but listen. Listen to what the bible says, it is literally God's word. Listen to people in authority: your parents, teachers, pastors, priests, etc if and ONLY if it aligns with God's word. Listen to God in your heart: the Holy Spirit.

But what do we actually do with what we hear? Psalms 95 tells us to heed His voice, not to harden our hearts. Don't be stubborn and refuse an instruction from the Holy Spirit; you can't just ignore it either. There have been times when I just tried to pretend I didn't hear anything, so I could keep using ignorance as an excuse to continue doing something that was wrong. The truth is that, one, it doesn't work. God loves us too much to leave us to keep sinning, and just like how He sent many prophets to the Israelites and Jesus to the world, He will keep speaking to you. Two, trying to do that will just make matters worse for you. No matter how much you want to pretend, ignorance is no longer an excuse for you, and God can also punish you for refusing to heed warnings. Psalms 95:8-11 says,

"Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did. For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways. So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”

So, when you get a word from God, don't ignore it, especially not because of fear. The Bible tells us constantly that we don't need to fear anything because we have God on our side. Remember that, God is on your side! Whatever word he gives you, there's no ulterior motive behind it. He truly has your best interest at heart, so think of it as an instruction to follow to take the next step towards the ultimate reward: eternity in heaven.

Peace and love of Christ be with you all!