Jeremiah 7:27-34: a reflection

27“You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you. 28You shall tell them, ‘This is the nation that has not listened to the LORD their God’s voice, nor received instruction. Truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth.’ 29Cut off your hair, and throw it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. 30“For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight,” says the LORD. “They have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. 31They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I didn’t command, nor did it come into my mind. 32Therefore behold, the days come”, says the LORD, “that it will no more be called ‘Topheth’ or ‘The valley of the son of Hinnom’, but ‘The valley of Slaughter’; for they will bury in Topheth until there is no place to bury. 33The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth. No one will frighten them away. 34Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land will become a waste.”

As God sends Jeremiah with his word to a rebellious people, he tells the prophet a sobering thing in advance: they will not listen. You shall speak all these words to them, God says, but they will not listen to you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you. This is the nation that has not listened to the LORD their God's voice, nor received instruction. The tragedy here is a settled refusal to listen; the people had so hardened themselves against God's word that they would not hear it, would not answer, would not receive instruction. A refusal to listen, persisted in, becomes a kind of deafness; the ear that will not hear grows unable to hear. The people had refused God's voice so long that they no longer listened at all. To persistently refuse to listen to God is a grave and tragic thing, for the heart that will not hear becomes deaf to him.

Notice the tragedy God names: a people who will not listen. It is not that they had not been spoken to; God had sent prophet after prophet, word after word. But they would not listen, would not answer, would not receive instruction. Their refusal to hear had become settled, a fixed deafness to God's voice. This is the danger of persistently refusing to listen to God: the refusal hardens into an inability, the ear that will not hear grows deaf. A heart that keeps rejecting God's word eventually becomes unable to receive it. God kept speaking, calling, sending; but the people had closed their ears so long that his voice no longer reached them. To refuse God's word again and again is to risk becoming deaf to it, unable at last to hear even when he calls. The settled refusal to listen is a tragedy of the heart, not because God stops speaking, but because we stop being able to hear. God calls; the tragedy is a people who will not answer.

That is worth taking to heart, for persistently refusing to listen to God can harden into a deafness to his voice. We can refuse to listen to God, ignoring his word, brushing aside his call, again and again, and find that the refusal hardens, that the ear which will not hear grows deaf; but God warned that his people had so refused to listen that they no longer would. To keep refusing God's word is to risk becoming unable to hear it. There is wisdom in listening to God while our ears are still open. Do not persistently refuse to listen to God, lest your refusal harden into deafness; hear his voice while you can. Keep your ears open to God's voice rather than persistently refusing to listen, lest the refusal harden into deafness, as God warned that his people would not listen or answer because they had so long refused his voice; for a heart that keeps rejecting God's word becomes unable to receive it, the ear that will not hear grows deaf, and it is a grave and tragic thing to refuse God so long that we can no longer hear him, so that there is wisdom in listening while our ears are still open.

Lord, as you send Jeremiah with your word to a rebellious people, you tell the prophet a sobering thing in advance: they will not listen. You shall speak all these words to them, you say, but they will not listen to you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you. This is the nation that has not listened to the LORD their God's voice, nor received instruction. The tragedy here is a settled refusal to listen; the people had so hardened themselves against your word that they would not hear it, would not answer, would not receive instruction. A refusal to listen, persisted in, becomes a kind of deafness. Show me the tragedy you name: a people who will not listen. It is not that they had not been spoken to; you had sent prophet after prophet. But they would not listen, would not answer. Their refusal to hear had become settled, a fixed deafness to your voice. This is the danger of persistently refusing to listen to you: the refusal hardens into an inability, the ear that will not hear grows deaf. You kept speaking, calling, sending; but the people had closed their ears so long that your voice no longer reached them. Take that to my heart, for persistently refusing to listen to you can harden into a deafness to your voice. I can refuse to listen to you, ignoring your word, brushing aside your call, again and again, and find that the refusal hardens; but you warned that your people had so refused to listen that they no longer would. There is wisdom in listening to you while my ears are still open. Keep me from persistently refusing to listen to you, Lord, lest my refusal harden into deafness; help me hear your voice while I can, that I may not become unable to hear you.