WE WILL NOT HEARKEN

 WE WILL NOT HEARKEN

“Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also, I have set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.” Jeremiah 6:15-17. The prophet has been sent by God to reclaim his people. Isn’t it amazing that God desires that those who have strayed be reclaimed? These people were without shame for their idolatry and rebellion against God. Earlier, Jeremiah had accused them, “Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hast a whore’s forehead, thou refusedest to be ashamed.” Jeremiah 3:3. Another prophet of God had accused the people, “The unjust knoweth no shame.” Zephaniah 3:5. They had committed abomination which was vile and offensive to God. Sin was going to bring about their fall, but God was offering them an opportunity to return to him and walk in the way that he directed and desired. Jeremiah was calling them to leave the idol worship and the lewdness of their sinful lives. They were to seek that holy relationship that they had enjoyed with God. But, they refused and would not listen. God offered compassion and forgiveness, but they had no desire to hear and obey. The trumpet which warned them of impending danger was not heard. Like so many, “they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” Romans 1:21. Jesus preached to those whose “heart is waxed gross, and their ears of dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” Matthew 13:15. Some of the Hebrew Christians “were dull of hearing” and were walking in the way of those who had been “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Hebrews 5:11 and Hebrews 3:13. When an individual refuses to hearken to the cry of God, his fate is sealed as those who “could not enter in because of unbelief.” Hebrews 3:19.