Actor David Suchet wants to read the Bible. But not just read it, to read it aloud. And not only to read it aloud, but to record reading it. Here is an extract from a clip on YouTube, made while he was recording reading part of the Bible. “I had a conversion experience that begun in 1986. When I was converted I was an actor. And I thought, well, one thing I can do, or, I think I can do, is to read. And I’ve for many, many years felt that I wanted to put my voice to the Bible. Not only bits of the Bible, but the whole thing… It will for me, fulfil, what is for me a 27 year ambition. What is surprising when reading the Bible out loud, is over and over again I hear in my head as I’m reading it, a quote from the Bible; “Hear the Word of the Lord”. It doesn’t say “Read the Word of the Lord”, it says “Hear the Word of the Lord”. It’s my prayer that everybody hearing my reading will find the same things, it will be fresh. And they will think, as I think when I’m reading it; gosh, this is fantastic.” “Hear the Word of the Lord” is a phrase that recurs in the Bible. But it is not simply a call to ‘hear’, but to ‘respond’ to what is heard. It is not a call to simply listen, but to act on what we hear. Parents in the past might have been heard saying to a child who was not listening to what they were told; “Have you got poundies (potatoes) in your ears?” Teachers and parents have often said to distracted pupils and children; “Did you hear me?” The obvious inference is that if they heard them, they would have changed what they were doing, they would have obeyed the voice of their teacher or parent. When they ask that question, they’re really asking “Why haven’t you obeyed me when I told you what to do?” In the Bible, to ‘hear’ God is to ‘obey’ God. The Hebrew word ‘shema’ means to listen, understand, and to act (obey). It is often translated ‘obey’ instead of ‘hear’ (e.g. Deut. 30:17-18). In Psalm 40:6, the writer uses the metaphor of God giving him an open ear to show that he has been more obedient to what God wants him to do – delighting in doing what God commands, rather than going through the motions of religious ceremony: “In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”” (Psalm 40:6–8, ESV) In the Lord’s prayer, obedience is one of the first things mentioned, doing God’s will here on earth, as it is (perfectly) done in heaven by the angels (Matthew 6:9-13). We are not to be the masters of our own lives, doing it ‘my way’, as Frank Sinatra used to sing. Instead, we are to be obedient to God, doing things ‘his way’. Jesus said: “If you love me, obey my commandments.” (John 14:15 NLT) The Apostle John wrote later: “And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him.” (1 John 2:3–5, NLT) Paul describes the purpose of the gospel as to bring about “the obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5, 16:26). Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in ‘The Cost of Discipleship’ wrote: Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes. Jesus made it clear in Matthew 7:21-23 that only we will be judged by our actions on the judgment day. Only those who put his words into practice will have confidence to stand on that day: ““Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”” (Matthew 7:24–27, ESV) We ought to not only listen, but understand and obey the Word of God. Jesus said: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matthew 11:15, ESV)