Listening

Listening

God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will.

John 9:31

Listen! The Lord is not too weak to save you, and he is not becoming deaf. He can hear you when you call. But there is a problem—your sins have cut you off from God. Because of your sin, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.

Isaiah 59:1-2

God listens to us. He heard the Israelites groaning in bondage, he heard Hannah crying out in barrenness, and he heard David facing Goliath in battle.

But there are times when God does not listen, and we are wise to be aware of the conditions involved. Amazingly, John 9:31 (quoted above) was not spoken by a religious leader, but by a blind man who received sight when Jesus healed him. The blind man had apparently grown up hearing the Scriptures and knew some of the verses from Job, Proverbs, and Isaiah that teach this awesome truth.

Jesus healed the blind man on the Sabbath, and instead of the “religious” Pharisees being pleased for the blind man, they grilled him and his parents, trying to get them to say something that would either get them excommunicated or discredit Jesus. There was a serious attitude problem here. Look at the contrast between the heart of the Pharisees and the heart of the blind man:

Pharisees (Spiritual Blindness)	Blind Man (Spiritual Insight)
Pride	Humility
No concern for others	Compassion for others
Condemnation	Forgiveness
Hopelessness	Hope
Insensitivity to sin	Desire to repent and change
Anger	Love a

The Pharisees thought they were spiritually wise, yet they failed to realize that God would not listen to them because they were not devoted to him. From the blind man, we learn that the person God listens to is the person who does his will.

Father,

Please forgive us for the times we’ve been more concerned with outward show than inward devotion to you. May we come to you with humility, being assured that you will hear us. Amen.