The Deaf God
Now after Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the Lord’s hearing. 1 Samuel 8:21 NASB
Lord’s hearing – Do you suppose that God didn’t know what the people said so that it was necessary for Samuel to repeat their words? No, of course not! Then why does the text tell us that Samuel repeated all the words of the people beozne YHVH (“in the ears of YHVH”). This is an idiom expressing responsiveness and understanding. Samuel wants to be sure that the people realize what they are saying, so he repeats the words, not because God didn’t get it the first time, but because the people, who are still standing there, will now hear what they themselves have spoken to the Lord. They will be witnesses to their own apostasy. They will attend to their own dismissal of God as their sovereign. And when the day comes, as it surely will, that they cry out to God in their misery under the king, Samuel warns them, “the Lord will not hear you in that day” (v. 18). In that day, you will have no excuse. There will be no justification for your complaint. You are bringing it all on yourselves. And today, in this repetition of your own words, you are testifying to abandoning your God. He is listening now, but the next time you cry out, He won’t be listening.
This is a very scary warning, and not just for Israel. If we want to appreciate just how terrifying this warning really is, all we have to do is review the history of the kings of Israel. They all lead to just one place—destruction! The warning is just as ominous for us. How many times have we heard God’s warnings and chosen to ignore them? How often have our own protests and requests come back to haunt us? Do you suppose that if God is willing to abandon Israel to its own consequences after warning them, He will not do the same for you and me? Do you think that the God of Israel is a one-sided God of ultimate love and mercy, never exercising justice and punishment? Oh, it’s not so nice to think about, but here it is in the text (and this isn’t the only occurrence). There will come a time when YHVH will no longer hear. It is no good citing the fact that God ultimately embraces Israel; that He never completely reneges of His eternal covenant with Abraham. That might be consolation in the end, but in the meanwhile, during the time when we are actually living in this world, the specter of God’s deaf ear is very real. It might be true that in the bye-and-bye we will see the face of a loving God again, but until then it is always possible that the face of God will be turned away.
The people of Samuel’s day wanted peace and security. They thought it would be found in a duplication of the governing models of the Gentiles. They were wrong—dead wrong, but that didn’t stop them from choosing to override God’s intention. It doesn’t stop us either. It is dead wrong to place our hopes for peace and security in government, especially government that is modeled on the plan of human sovereignty. But we do it anyway. We hope, we even pray, that our government officials will be godly, when there is absolutely no reason to believe that they will. They are just like us—human, flawed, clawing for power and advantage, afraid to fail, self-concerned. There is only one sovereign who can be completely trusted, and you won’t see Him on television.
Topical Index: ozne, ears, government, king, 1 Samuel 8:21
So what are we to do?
Rom 10:14 How then shall they call on the One in whom they have not trusted? And how shall they trust in the One they have not heard of? And how shall they hear without someone proclaiming?
Rom 10:15 And how shall they proclaim unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim good news of good things!”
Rom 10:16 But not all heeded the Good News. For Isaiah says, “Adonai, who has believed our report?”
Rom 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Messiah.
Rom 10:18 But I say, have they never heard? Indeed they have, for “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”
Rom 10:19 But I say, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, “I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation, with a nation empty of understanding I will vex you.”
Rom 10:20 And Isaiah is so bold as to say, “I was found by those who did not seek Me; I became visible to those who did not ask for Me.”
Rom 10:21 But about Israel He says, “All day long I stretched forth My hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”
So what are we to do…..if even our prayers and our prophesying seems to be of no avail?
PRAY AND PROPHESY!
You got a better answer? I know, obey. But didn’t the prophets obey? It seems futile, but then what else can you do but try to provoke them to jealousy. Is it any better to try to save your life rather than lose it for His sake and for the sake of the gospel? Makes you wanna give up. But don’t! Die trying. It will all be worth it. And even if you’re not sure of that, isn’t HE worthy?
An appropriate warning then as well as today. Honestly we humans just always think that we have the best answers to all that we see wrong in our world! I wonder sometimes just how much is really “wrong?” We seem to have issues with trusting God and His word. We have so much history to look back on and see what has transpired and yet we seem to willingly forget history. It is said that the victor of any battle gets to write the history. Sad but true I believe.
I always end up back at George Orwell’s book “1984” when I consider current times. He either had inside info or was a visionary!
Why are we not learning from what has gone before us? Why so much focus on the future and what we cannot possible know? We have been taught to do this and this is one habit that needs to be willfully and quickly broken!
God knows His people and He gets to see the bigger picture! We also worry far to much about things we have no control over. Live in today and take control of yourself. That’s what each of us are given. I want peace and security too but I am learning that I can only find that by trusting in God and I can see the “why” of that by looking back at what the past shows me.
I experienced the deaf ear of God for decades. I felt that my prayers were bouncing off a glass ceiling and eventually I quit praying those one-sided conversations. I tried with every tool I had (and I had a considerable arsenal of them, spiritually speaking). All failed. I had been moved against my will (being a child) into a place where God was silent. The joy was gone. The efforts of righteousness all failed, too. I slowly dropped one vestige of what I knew to be right at a time, reluctantly, for I knew that righteousness was my protection, but at this point none of it seemed to work. The harder I tried, the behinder I got, and being good? That left me a sitting duck. I got creamed and creamed again. Wanna know how hard it is to still believe that obedience works when none of the choices in front of your face allow for obedience? I was one giant walking love failure.
Slowly, I began to take notes, and learn lessons. Slowly I learned to admit my helplessness and failure, and deep anger. Looking back, I realize that a lot of what I was experiencing was learning the lessons that others who were in my life refused to learn as well as experiencing their emotions, too.. When you are born, you inherit a whole passel of people you did not choose, along with all the lessons they refused to learn (sin). When you do choose to love others, you also take on their spiritual baggage. These are the ‘crosses’ of love, crucified by the sins of others. (It does not count to be crucified for your own sins) I wallowed in self pity, I raged, I ran, but in the end, I chose to love anyway, and so I learned those lessons chosen by others for me to learn, as well as the ones I chose.
Try as I might, I still cannot reconcile the trouble in people’s lives with just their own choices. We are affected by the choices of others, for that is HOW they sin against us. Its like using your own liver to process their waste. That’s love, and that is WHY we have to learn to forgive – before we drown in their waste!. Part of that waste is the experience of the deaf ear of God. To experience the horror of another person’s life choices is awful, but that is what children do every day. As adults, we choose to for love.
As I learned to separate my waste from that of others, I learned to self forgive, and to forgive others, and how to seek the forgiveness of God for US. This is intercession, and you cannot do it if you are not standing in another’s shoes and sharing their fracture from heaven, too. (I think this is in large part why intercessory prayer does not work well a fair amount of the time.)
That deaf ear of God? He lets us go in wrong directions alone. When I want to know how to deal with a situation I ask myself how did God deal with me when I did that? I have learned that it is correct to quit listening when people go ‘off’ in a non -relationship direction, for that is how you can let them know without violating their right to choose it. If they want to relate, they will notice and try to get your attention again. That is when you can give it. I learned to stand WITH those around me and petition for attention for US. Well, it sure is a cure for selfishness!
“and you won’t see Him on television.”
He has no booking agent. He does no public speaking.
He’s not even of this world. So no need to check behind that curtain.
Yet He’s widely known in the hearts of those who tune into Him daily.
It’s a frequency thing.
Observations: YHVH – Ya (God-creator) HVH (Calamity). The word אזן for ears is also ‘weapon, or tool’. ‘Rehearse’ דבר has the gate דב for ‘bear’ as was used for the calamity of God brought upon the boys who taunted Elisha for not having authority [דב means the law revealed to man]. He ‘revealed the calamity in the weapon of the creator of calamity. Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil (calamity): I the LORD do all these [things].
That is the most succinct explanation of this Scripture that i have ever heard/read. Noted. May i quote you?