Guard your steps (when you go to the house of God)

It's easy to get confused studying the Bible.  (For those of you who have yet to figure out what order Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philippians come in, you're kinda just scratching the surface.)  Ecclesiastes has become my little "home base" of sorts I return to when I become overwhelmed or find myself at a dead end.

I've been through Ecclesiastes numerous times, but today, one verse is jumping out at me.

"Guard your steps when you go to the house of God.  Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong."

More specifically, this part:

"Go near to listen."

I wonder.  Once in a while I'll end up praying with some friends for certain things, but I never stop to see how God answers those prayers.  (I guess I always assume that God will work things out.)  Perhaps the first part of that verse is a key to a better habit of prayer: "Guard your steps when you go to the house of God."  When you pray, are thoughts of homework or the next item on your to-do list floating around in the back of your mind?  Are you anxious to fulfill your "conversation time" with God over with so that you can get on with your life?  Slow down - be with God.  Talk with him, not at him.

And I guess that's the crux of my reflections this week: I want to be able to draw near to the throne of God and be with the One who loves with an everlasting love.  I want to listen to the One who knows my past, present, and future - the One who speaks with a wisdom above all earthly wisdoms.  Most of all, I want to be able to do so in humility, in the knowledge that without my Savior, I would not even be able to approach the throne in the first place.