It was not always easy keeping all four of my kids on the right track. I’d tell one to pick up their clothes, another to empty the trash, tell them all to do their homework, tell them to make their beds, flush the toilets, etc. Yet I’d seem to repeat these phrases more than 6 times a day…which means SOMEONE wasn’t listening. And when I’d ask why it wasn’t done, they say “I did it”. The obvious question is “then why is the trash still full, homework undone, bed unmade, etc?”
They HEARD me, they just refused to listen. They followed the stubbornness of their own hearts & minds, and let my words fall on deaf ears. Saying you’re listening certainly doesn’t mean you are.
If you’ve ever been responsible for leading someone, in your family, on the job, etc., you undoubtedly know the frustrations that come with trying to lead a stubborn soul that refuses to listen. You ask them to perform the simplest of tasks and they want to ask 20 questions before they will commence. And at least 19 of those questions would be automatically answered for them once they obeyed and started the task! Yet they look at you flabbergasted, completely confused, completely unfocused, and completely void of any real intention to listen.
Look at this passage from the 13th chapter of Jeremiah:
This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.” So I bought a belt, as the Lord directed, and put it around my waist.
Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time: “Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks.” So I went and hid it at Perath, as the Lord told me.
Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.” So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.
“Then the word of the Lord came to me: “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless! For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the Lord, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.’” /Jeremiah 13:1-11/
Wicked. Now, I wouldn’t have called any of my children “wicked”. After all, they DID (sometimes) listen and obey. But when their stubbornness and selfishness took over, I would somewhat agree with the term “completely useless”. These were are all very bright kids. They were, and still are, gifted with great imaginations, perfect health, and mental soundness. They have such potential, such ability, such talent, such promise! But they turned a deaf ear to my words and we’d spend days/weeks in a cycle of grounding & un-grounding. They’d get mad and pout, and I get frustrated.
But this scripture made me think and ask myself a difficult question. How often does the Lord think of me as being “wicked, stubborn, and completely useless” because I “refuse to listen”? Oh He loves me, I’m not questioning that. But how often is He frustrated with my unwillingness to listen (and obey)? I heard someone say, “How can we expect the Lord to listen to us when we refuse to listen to Him?” Obviously, the Lord can and does listen to us, but that’s certainly something to ponder. How frustrating the Lord must be with us when He is calling, directing, guiding, leading, and speaking…yet we turn a deaf ear. And how wonderfully gracious He is to continue to call, continue to direct, continue to guide, continue to lead, continue to speak, and continue to LOVE us even in our wickedness, stubbornness, and complete disobedience.
It should be our mission to hone in and listen. To acknowledge that still small voice instead of drowning it out with “noise”. To let His Words resonate within us instead of tilting our heads to let them flow effortlessly out of the other ear. To obey when He speaks, and to trade our wet linen belt “for His renown and praise and honor”.
The Beauty of Being Still and Letting Go 