"Shema"

Last semester, for a class project, I was able to visit 2 Jewish synagogues to view them on their style of worship. In both services, there was a well known prayer that was sung out and the congregation would respond by singing back the same. This prayer is found in Deuteronomy 6 vs. 4 which says "Listen, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one." In Hebrew it goes: “Shema Yisrael Adonai Elohenu Adonai Echad”. Now you may quickly excuse this whole post saying “I’m not Jewish”, but don’t run just yet. This actually has to do with Christians as well and we’ll see in a bit.

But before we go on, you may be thinking what does this word "shema" even mean? Well, "shema" is a Hebrew word that means to listen. As we clearly see in the command given To Israel to listen to God.This can also be an attribute of God (Jehovah-Shema) meaning the Lord who listens. We see this in Psalm 62 vs. 1 when David uses this word saying “Listen to my cry” or “Shema my cry”. What was even more interesting, often times, Jews would say “Shema-shema”. The first means to listen, but then the other half means to obey God. It’s a two-sided coin.

In the New Testament, or "the Christian side" we also see the same. James 1 vs. 22 says "But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves." Here we see "Shema-Shema". Listen and obey.How would we be fooling ourselves? Well what if God had a plan for your life but you are sticking your fingers in your ears trying to act death when you’re missing out on the adventure God has prepared for you.

In ending, there is a difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is defined as “ the special sense by which noises and tones are received as stimuli.” This means you can perceive that it’s a sound but you don’t know where it’s coming from or from whom it’s coming. It would be sad if God was talking to our generation, but we only perceive that it’s a sound and not know where it’s coming from and miss Him. However, Listening means "“to pay attention to sound; to hear something with thoughtful attention”. This is the spot where we ought to be. Not just knowing it’s a sound coming from somewhere or someone. But knowing when and whom is talking is way more personal. This is the spot where I want to be and stay. Listening and obeying. What about you?