Blind and Deaf

Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear........ But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away. Jeremiah 5:21,23

There are those among us who are willfully, deliberately blind and deaf to the Word of God. They were the majority in Jeremiah's day, when Judah was about to go into captivity because of their disobedience. They despised and ridiculed Jeremiah for proclaiming what God had commissioned him to say to the nation. It was a thankless, lonely job, but Jeremiah continued for one very simple reason: he could not help himself. He was compelled by the Holy Spirit to speak out for Truth, warning his people of the coming calamity for their nation. (Jeremiah 20:9," But if I say I will not mention his word , or speak anymore in his name, his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.") Some today have known that burden, in a sense; enough so that Jeremiah's lament is hauntingly similar to their own experience as believers who are sometimes challenged and rejected in the open forum, and sometimes even at home and among friends. Nevertheless, God's Word goes forth, and it will not return void. (Isaiah 55:11)