I Can't Hear You

Jeremiah 36:1-4, 20-26

Has anyone ever come to you and told you something that you just didn't want to hear? Maybe it was that they were telling you that you needed to not do something, or change the way you doing it or something like that.
Usually the easy thing to do in that kind of situation is to just ignore what you are being told, to pretend that you never even heard it from them. Maybe you cover your ears and shake your head and make noises like "Blah, blah, blah, I can't hear you!!!"  I mean that is what I usually want to do in those cases.

Normally it is easier to blame it on selective hearing. You know that trait that it seems (at least from what I have been told) most men and teenagers have. It's the one where we only hear what we want to hear, rather than what we should or need to hear. I know that I am guilty of that kind of thing.  When there is something that I don't want to hear, I just choose to ignore it or pretend that I didn't hear it or whatever. At the time it sure seems to make things easier.

The problem is that in the long run, it makes things more difficult. When eventually you get to the place where you can no longer ignore what you have been told it is usually better if you have taken the advice or instruction from the very beginning. When we choose to ignore things that are really for our own good it just makes it harder for us in the end.

That is what I see happening in our scripture today. God tells Jeremiah to write down all the messages that he has given him from the very beginning and to use them to remind the king and the people what will happen if they don't repent. The king however chooses not to acknowledge these things and to burn the scroll to get rid of what he has been told.

(An interesting note here in verse 3: God says that if they repent, then he will be able to forgive their sins and wrongdoings. It's not that God can't forgive these things without their repentance. Rather their repentance is their accepting and admitting that they have done wrong and need to be forgiven. It is not for God's benefit that they repent, but rather for their own benefit. Example: if one of my kids does something wrong, I will forgive them, even if they don't ask, but by them asking for that and admitting they did something needed to be forgiven, it makes it a more significant thing to be forgiven.)

God is calling for us to repent in the same way that he called for the people of Israel to repent here.  It is up to us to hear that call and to obey. Peace and Love y'all.