What Makes God Hearing Impaired (2)

Jeremiah 11:11: "Therefore this is what the LORD says: 'I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them.'"

Seldom do we find in Scripture any mention of God refusing to hear the petitions of a people who are in distress and in need of deliverance. But in the account of the people in Judah during the days of Jeremiah we find just that.

As we have addressed in previous devotions, the Judeans during the days of Jeremiah were a wayward people who were unwilling to repent of their sin of rebellion against the LORD. So brazen had they become in their wickedness, that when God sent to them the prophet Jeremiah to proclaim judgment for their sinful ways, these people determined to kill Jeremiah and his descendants (11:19f).

Now that God was leading the Babylonians to invade Palestine, the people would cry out for relief, but God would refuse to listen. God even instructed Jeremiah not to pray for the people, for it would be to no avail. Whereas we might think this to be heartless of the Lord not to respond to the petitions of His covenant people, we need only to look at the verses immediately following the quoted verse above. After praying to the One True Lord of Hosts, these people of Judah then turned to their false gods and prayed to them asking for deliverance as well. This response of the people leads us to conclude that they were not sincere in their repentance to the Lord; rather, they were looking for relief from their misery. These people were unwilling to turn away from their idolatry which to them justified their sinful behavior; they simply were looking for a reprieve from their persecution so that they could return to their reckless ways. These people were not sorry for what they had done . . . they were sorry that they had gotten caught and were suffering for their wickedness. Were these wicked people to receive relief from their judgment, they would have gone back to the false gods to whom they had petitioned and worshipped them for granting deliverance. These people would not have repented and turned from their sinfulness; instead, they would have intensified their sacrifices to the false gods.

This is a good word for us today. We must remember that the Lord is "compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love and faithfulness" (Exodus 33:6). Still, He is unwilling to listen to our pleas for deliverance, when we are unwilling to confess our sin and turn from our wicked ways. For God to grant our petitions under such circumstances would perpetuate sinfulness in our lives, for we would be apt to conclude our invincibility to any judgment that may come our way when we perpetrate rebellion against the Lord. God will not be mocked by our sin (Galatians 6:7-8); He will not respond to us when we cry out to Him and yet are unwilling to surrender to Him as our Lord and follow Him in obedience.

Let us forsake our rebellious ways and turn back to the Lord. We then will find that He will incline His ear to us and answer our prayers for healing.