“...Let the one who boasts, boast about this, that they have the understanding to know Me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.” (The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, ch. 9, v. 23, the bold text is ours*)
We have all seen a child demonstratively cover their ears in front of their parents or someone else when they're angry or scared. There are three main reasons someone might say “Don’t talk to me!” to someone: they're angry, afraid of what they might hear or expecting something they will not like.
In the Old Testament and especially in the books of the prophets, we see how often the people of Israel declare, in words or actions, to God Himself: “Don’t talk to us! We don’t want to hear what You have to say!”
Yahweh rebukes them so many times, as we can see in the book of the prophet Jeremiah: “When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer. Therefore, say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.’” (Jeremiah, ch. 7, vv. 27-28*) Again to the prophet Isaiah, God says: “Go and tell this people: ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” (The Book of the Prophet Isaiah, ch. 6, vv. 9B-10*)
Have you ever covered your ears like the people of Israel? This is not an accusatory question, quite the opposite. Together, we should seek the reasons why, consciously or not, we place ourselves in a dangerous situation because there is no greater danger than moving away from the One who thinks the best for us and guides us to it.
“I don’t like You right now!”
It may sound too familiar, but the reason for rebellion and disobedience to God’s voice often is that we are angry with Him. Yes, at the Lord Himself. Whether we have the right for that is another question, but certainly our attribution of human traits to God can “make” Him small in our eyes. So small that He resembles a human. If we live with the idea that God is like people, we are inclined to see in His actions weakness or illogic, unwillingness to help, indifference, inconsistency, injustice, even cruelty. We are angry because we feel He has betrayed us.
The prophet Jonah had such a moment in his life when he expected God to destroy the people of the city of Nineveh, but God did not do so. Jonah felt that the Ninevites deserved God’s punishment because they had harmed his own people, but obviously, God showed them mercy, which seemed like injustice in the eyes of the prophet. He was angry because he was disappointed, but notice, not with God, but with his own ideas about God. “But to Jonah, this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, ‘Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.’ But the Lord replied, ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’” (Jonah, ch. 4, vv. 1-4*)
“I don’t want to!”
Another very familiar expression, which sums up our motives to “cover our ears” to God’s voice: He wants something I do not. Why would we choose something different from God’s will? Because of sin or fear. The deeper reason again lies in the fact that, like the prophet Jonah, we have created our own image of what God should be and serve it. In Eden, Eve was deceived by the serpent because the woman did not know God well enough.
Satan, in the form of a serpent, deceives her with perhaps the oldest and most frequently used lie in our lives: God is making you unhappy. The serpent lies to Eve, saying that God is actually withholding something good from humans. This is also the same lie that lures each of us to choose sin over obedience today.
The truth is, there is nothing else in this world that can make us truly happy and free except God’s will for us. To believe this and take our fingers out of our ears, however, we need to know God, not hold on to our often wrong idea of Him.
Challenge for the week: Knowing God comes through reading His word and experiencing His mercies in our lives. Is there a situation or moment in your life that you recall today, saying, “God was so good to me then!”? Have you ever shared this experience with others? Recall this situation first for yourself, and during the week find an opportunity to share it with a friend or acquaintance. When we tell others about something, we reinforce it within ourselves.
*Bible quotes are according to the text of Bible, New Translation from Original Languages © Bulgarian Bible Society 2013.