Josh McDowell's Youth DevotionsSample

LISTEN AND LEARN. How do you learn best? Some kids learn pretty well just by listening. They can listen to a teacher tell a story or explain something and later remember almost everything the teacher said. Other kids learn better by reading. They may listen to a teacher, but they learn a lot better if they can see the words on paper. (That's one reason why kids in high school and college take notes while a teacher's talking; they usually learn the lesson better because they saw it as well as heard it.) Some kids have to talk in order to learn well. They learn something better if they can talk about it and put it in their own words. Still other kids learn best by doing. They remember things better if they act them out or put them together. Their hands and bodies seem to be always moving, and they can't wait to get started with an experiment or demonstration. Guess what! No matter how you learn best, God's Word is meant for you. When God gave his commandments to Moses, he told Moses to "read this law to all the people of Israel when they assemble" (Deuteronomy 31:11); that was for the listeners. But God also instructed Moses to "write down these words" (Exodus 34:27, NIV); that was for the readers. And then, when the Israelites had entered the Promised Land, God told them to gather on the slopes of two mountains and to repeat his commands back and forth in a huge responsive reading (Joshua 8:30-35); that was for the talkers! But all of us-whether we're listeners, readers, talkers, or doers-are to learn God's laws by doing. He tells us that we're supposed to "listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully obey all the terms of this law" (Deuteronomy 31:12). No matter what our learning style may be, God wants us all to be listeners of his Word. He wants us all to be readers of his Word. He wants us all to be talkers of his Word. But, most important, he wants us all to be doers of his Word because we will not only learn best when we do all four but we will also live best when we "listen and learn to fear the Lord [our] God and carefully obey all the terms of this law" (Deuteronomy 31:12). As God promises: "I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me" (Jeremiah 32:40, NIV). REFLECT: Do you listen carefully when God's Word is read? Do you read his Word on your own? Do you speak his Word and memorize important verses? Do you do his Word, carefully obeying what he says? How can you listen to God's Word and learn it better? PRAY: "Lord, I want to be a follower of your Word. Thank you for your guidance."