Daily Devotions
Spiritual Deafness
Reading for August 5th: Jeremiah 6-8
To whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,
they cannot listen;
behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.
Jeremiah 6:10
There is an elderly lady that my wife and I visit who has all but completely lost her hearing. When we first started visiting her we could carry on a conversation without too much trouble. These conversations eventually became one sided (with us almost shouting for her to hear us). Now, I'm not sure she can hear a thing we are saying to her.
There is, however, a more tragic condition than hers. In fact, it is much more serious because it is a spiritual deafness. It's one thing to be physically deaf to where you cannot hear what people are telling you, it's a completely different matter when you are spiritually deaf and cannot hear what God is saying to you.
How do you know if you are spiritually deaf? There is a symptom of spiritual deafness here in this text from Jeremiah. The people couldn't hear because they "took no pleasure" in the word of the Lord. While some have tasted that God's Word is gracious and treasure it more than fine gold (1 Pet 2:2-3; Psa 19:10), others are turned off by it. They don't desire the Word because they have elevated their own will ahead of God's.
That means that spiritual deafness is not just something that happens to you (like a disease or a genetic defect). It is something that is the result of choices that we have made. We must choose to circumcise our hearts by choosing to please God. When God's will becomes the driving force in our lives, our ears will be wide open to hear all that he has to say.
Father God, give us hearts to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear your Word!
