By Canaan Chapman
We miss things that matter all the time. I recently heard a conversation where someone admitted they didn’t remember a single thing about a worship gathering because they were too focused on the logistics of kids and lunch plans. We skim messages we forget to answer and only realize too late that someone needed us. There have been times where I’ve ignored a quiet hint of a need that was really an invitation for me to step in.
Have you ever thought back to a moment when God was trying to tell you something? Maybe it felt like a restless spirit you brushed off during church. Maybe it looked like a friend dropping hints. It could’ve even been a growing discomfort you silenced with something else in the schedule. It’s no wonder we struggle to hear God speak when we have trouble listening in general.
This isn’t a new problem. God’s people did the same. In today’s reading, Jeremiah spoke with what sounded like indignation and a broken heart. Without context it sounds bad enough, but the reader will know this isn’t a sudden crisis. This was just the latest chapter in a long story of a refusal to hear the Lord.
Before the prophets came, God raised up judges to deliver Israel in a time of spiritual crisis. Eventually, they wanted to be like other nations. They wanted a king to handle things decisively. So God gave them kings—even though it grieved Him to be rejected. As David put it in Psalm 14, it’s the fool who turns away and acts like there is no God. God’s people ignored the signs and dismissed the prophets like Jeremiah. Generation after generation, God’s voice was a consistent one. He spoke through the patriarchs, and He spoke through the judges. He spoke through the kings, and He spoke through the prophets. He warned, pleaded, invited, and led, but again and again, it was ignored. God promised a Savior once and for all, something we all desperately need, but it sure seems like His people missed the message.
God never gave up, as proved whenever we celebrate the arrival of Jesus during Advent. Yes, it took some time, but He is the true Prophet. The King of kings. The ultimate Judge.
Still today, many miss Him. Are we listening now? Have we learned from the generations of those who came before us to pay attention to the right thing? Today can be a chance to level-set, to slow down. It’s an opportunity to take a break from the world, it’s distractions, lies, and the noise. With purpose, look at the messengers God sent to us to know Him. Today can be a chance for us to take a breath and say, “speak, Lord, I’m listening.” The true Prophet has spoken, and He still speaks. His voice has never changed, and His call never wavers.
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