שָׁמָע: How to TRULY Hear God

Shama (shaw-maw'): To hear, listen, obey

This week's Hebrew word is shama — and if you've ever heard the word "Shema," this is exactly where it comes from.

Deuteronomy 6:4 opens with Shema, "Hear, O Israel." It's one of the most central declarations in all of Jewish faith. But shema (or shama) is so much more than just "listen up." In the Hebrew mindset, hearing and obeying weren't two separate things they were one. If you truly heard something, you acted on it. If you didn't act on it, you didn't really hear it. Someone please tell my kids this 😂.

Think about what that means for how we read Scripture. Every time God says "hear My voice" or "listen to My commands," He's not just asking for your attention. He's asking for your obedience. The hearing and the doing are inseparable.

This reframes so much of our faith. It's not enough to sit in church, read your Bible, or even study Hebrew words in a newsletter — shama asks the harder question: did it change anything? Did it go all the way through?

Scriptures where we find "shama":

Deuteronomy 6:4 — "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one."

Isaiah 1:19 — "If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land..."

Psalm 81:13 — "If only My people would listen to Me, if Israel would only follow My ways..."