In order to be able to obey immediately as Abraham did, it is necessary that you trust God. In the end, there is only one question: do you really trust God? He loves you, He gives you so much, and He knows so much better than you what is good for you.

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Yesterday we’ve read how God thought about the indifference of Esau, who didn’t value his birthright.

Let us now look at the opposite side, Jacob’s attitude toward what God had to offer. I will take just one key incident. Jacob was on his way back to his own land when he met a man at night, who was also an angel or a messenger from God. As you will remember, he wrestled with this man all night. This is typical of Jacob because he was a wrestler; he was always fighting to be on top.

“So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, ‘Let me go, for it is daybreak.’ But Jacob replied, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’ The man asked him, ‘What is your name?’ ‘Jacob,’ he answered. Then the man said, ‘Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.’” (Genesis 32:24–28)

The meaning of “Israel,” as here interpreted, is “struggling with God.” How typical! Jacob was a struggler, a wrestler. However, he had one key principle: he wanted God’s best. He said to this angel, “I will not let you go unless you bless me” (verse 26). I believe that was the key to God’s favor toward Jacob. God did not condone the flaws in Jacob’s character; God never does condone character flaws. But, because Jacob would not settle for less than God’s best, God was gradually able to deal with him and to make out of him the kind of man He wanted him to be. The condition, and the starting point, was that Jacob would not settle for anything less than God’s best.

I want to ask you, Will you make the same decision, that you will not settle for anything less than God’s best?

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We’ve already seen several ways to complete the sentence “If you want God’s best…”. Another is: be careful how and what you hear. Obviously, this relates closely to the previous chapter’s theme of hearing and obeying God’s voice. We are going on with this theme of hearing.

I have already pointed out that all through the Bible, from the Old Testament into the New, the basic requirement for belonging to God’s people is hearing and obeying His voice. In the Old Testament, God said to Israel, “Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people” (Jeremiah 7:23 NKJV). In the New Testament, Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27 NKJV). That requirement never changes in any dispensation or any age.

We will now consider more of what is involved in hearing God’s voice. Jesus said two things at different times in the Gospels. He said, “Take heed what you hear,” and later on, He said, “Take heed how you hear.” Let us examine both of these statements and see what they have to say to us.

The first one, “what you hear,” is in Mark 4:23–25, where Jesus begins, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” I understand that to mean, “I

If You Want God’s Best

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