Jeremiah 22:21 "I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice."
Picture, if you will, two neighbor boys playing outside. Each boy's mother calls him inside for the evening. One mother says, "Billy, come home! It's time to do your homework!" The other mother says, "Bobby, come home! It's time for dinner!" Now which of the boys is more likely to hear his mother? The answer is clear! It is easier to hear your mother when she calls you for food than it is to hear her when she calls for homework!
It is true that people hear what they want to hear. Stating that truth another way, a child called to a chore is less likely to hear than a child called to a meal. What we can learn this morning is that the hungry child hears more.
We find this truth in Jeremiah 22:21 when God was speaking to King Jehoiakim. He was a prosperous king, but he did not hear because he did not need. God speaks to men in their prosperity, but men speak to God from their poverty. God speaks to both the poor and the rich; men most often speak to God from their poverty. A hungry child hears more and tends to ask for more.
When we will not hear in prosperity, God sends us poverty. In Jeremiah, God promised to take away what they had (verses 23-30). The people had beautifully furnished homes, but their unwillingness to hear cost them what they had!
How wise we would be to thank God, seek God, and hear God while we are prosperous! God's commentary in Jeremiah 22 is a reminder to us that the hungry child hears more: "I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear . . . thou obeyedst not my voice." |
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