Hearing the Word

Who does the Lord think we are?” they ask. “Why does he speak to us like this? Are we little children, just recently weaned? He tells us everything over and over—one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there!” So now God will have to speak to his people through foreign oppressors who speak a strange language! God has told his people, “Here is a place of rest; let the weary rest here. This is a place of quiet rest.” But they would not listen. So the Lord will spell out his message for them again, one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there, so that they will stumble and fall. They will be injured, trapped, and captured. Isaiah 28:9-13

What Isaiah is saying from the text is real. People are so filled by intellectual pride that they laugh at the simple message of the Gospel. The Prophet Amos was ejected from the king’s chapel because he was a simple farmer and not a member of the religious elite (see Amos 7:10–17). God offers the people rest (see Isaiah 7:4; 8:6–8), but they cannot experience it because they are not willing to obey or hear His Word. “Here is a place of rest; let the weary rest here. This is a place of quiet rest.” But they would not listen.” God is speaking to them through Isaiah. He had given them a plain message that everybody could understand, but they rejected it. One person hearing the gospel and thinking, I never knew the Bible had so much to say to me. This is so meaningful. While the very next person hearing the same message is thinking, “This is dumb. Why doesn’t the Bible say something impressive, something up at my level?” The same message yet different impact. So the question is, what are you hearing? When the Bible is opened up, are you delighted or are you annoyed? The offer of rest for the weary is offered to us, if we resist it can become a message of judgment. “The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). What we must do is humble ourselves and ask God to soften our hard hearts. He can change us by what we hear from His word. “So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ” (Romans 10:17).

Blessings,