Coffee With The Lord

When someone says this about another person… “They’ve got a hearing problem!” It can mean several things… It could mean that their ability to hear is hampered because of a physical-sensory malidy (i.e. they are physically “hard-of-hearing”). Or it might mean there are just a lot of distracting and overpowering sounds that make it difficult to hear. The final possibility – and an unfortunate and troubling one – is that they simply CHOSE NOT TO HEAR what is being said (you might call that one “selective hearing” – there is no problem with their hearing – they simply IGNORE what is being said!)

God diagnosed “a hearing problem” among His people in the Old Testament! I read one account about it this morning in Psalm 81 during my time of “Coffee With the Lord!” (It’s not the only time that issue surfaced among God’s people to be sure! And it appears it was also a New Testament problem! (“He that ears to hear let him hear!” – four times in the New Testament.)

And it was a problem that a “hearing aid” or surgery would not fix! It was a case of “SELECTIVE HEARING!”

THE LORD HAD HEARD THEM! He declared, “In distress you called, and I delivered you; I answered you!”

But God appealed to His people… “HEAR, O MY PEOPLE, while I admonish you! IF YOU WOULD BUT LISTEN TO ME! There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god. I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD! … BUT MY PEOPLE DID NOT LISTEN TO MY VOICE! They would not submit to me! So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own counsels. OH THAT MY PEOPLE WOULD LISTEN TO ME and walk in my ways!” (From Psalm 81:8-13 ESV)

Just let me say, I never want to allow ANYTHING to drown out or detract from the Lord’s voice – I want to give God my undivided, focused attention when He speaks! And furthermore, I never want to be guilty of “selective hearing!” I’m hearing the echo of His voice even now… “HE THAT HAS EARS TO HEAR, LET HIM HEAR!”

GOD REWARDS THOSE WHO “STICK THEIR NECKS OUT” AND RISK EVERYTHING TO SUSTAIN, DEFEND AND HELP HIS FAITHFUL SERVANTS…

There’s a guy like that I read about this morning in the Bible… Not a guy with the “right national pedigree” (He was an Ethiopian” – He was even a bit different “biologically” (he was a “eunuch”) and he certainly “risked it” by helping someone who was not considered “politically correct” at the time (he risked everything to help Jeremiah who had been prophesying that Judah should surrender to Babylon’s invading armies, rather than resist them).

It was really rough to be an authentic “prophet of God” at the time – Just ask Jeremiah.  He had been telling Zedekiah, the king of Judah, that rather than resist the invading armies of Babylon, they should accept God’s judgment and surrender.  Some leaders in Judah accused Jeremiah of sedition – even treason.  Weak Zedekiah could not withstand them, so they took Jeremiah and threw him into a stinking cistern filled with mud and left him there.  Jeremiah sank into the muck up to his armpits and would have died there… except for EBED-MELECH, THE ETHOPIAN EUNICH – a servant in the king’s court!

Ebed-melech, risked everything, went to the king and said, “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet by casting  him into the cistern, and he will die there of hunger, for there is no bread left in the  city!”  And Zedekiah listened to Ebed-melech and allowed him to rescue Jeremiah by pulling him out of the cistern!  (Read it for yourself in Jeremiah 38:7-13).

So what happened to Ebed-melech for the risk he had taken to rescue God’s prophet when Jerusalem and Judah fell to the Babylon?  Here it is… “The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, ‘Go, and say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, ‘Thus says the Lord of host, the God of Israel: Behold I will fulfill my words against this city for harm and not for good… But I will deliver you on that day, declares the Lord!  You shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid!  I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your life as a prize of war, BECAUSE YOU HAVE PUUT YOUR TRUST IN ME, DECLARES THE LORD!’”

HEY, IT PAYS TO DO THE RIGHT THING – EVEN IF IT MEANS YOU HAVE TO “RISK IT!”  Here it is from the mouth of Jesus Himself… “The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.  And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”  (Matthew 10:41-42)  GOD BLESS PEOPLE LIKE EBED-MELECH!

I’ve been around long enough that I’m a bit wary of my “good intentions.”   I can recall times I’ve been to an exciting and inspiring church service where I’ve been challenged to “make a commitment” and I’ve done it!! – made all kinds of “promises to God – only to discover delivering on those promises is more difficult than making them.  Shamefully, I admit to having some of the same spiritual challenges as Simon Peter who I read about this morning in the Bible during my time of “Coffee with the Lord!” 

After the moving experience of the Lord ’s Supper, Jesus predicted, “You will all fall away!”  This really bothered Peter and he fervently declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not!”  Jesus responded (knowing Peter “inside-out”), “Truly, I tell you, today – yes tonight – before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.”  The Bible says at that point Peter insisted emphatically, “EVEN IF I HAVE TO DIE WITH YOU, I WILL NEVER DISOWN YOU!” 

But in Gethsemane, when Jesus needed prayer support the most, Peter failed Him…  Jesus had admitted, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow – to the point of death!  Stay here and keep watch” (in other words “stay awake and alert – support me in prayer!”)  What did Peter and the others do?  They slept.  The Bible says, “Jesus returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. ‘Simon,” He said to Peter, ‘are you asleep?  Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour?  Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation!  THE SPIRIT IS WILLING, BUT THE FLESH IS WEAK!’”

Peter failed!  And later, under pressure, Peter did precisely what Jesus had predicted! …  He died that he even knew the Lord (not once, but three times)! (vss. 66-72)

Tragically, the pathway of discipleship is all too often littered with the stuff of “good intentions!” … mine included!!  I need several things, it seems to me, as I reflect on Peter and my own failures this morning…

• I need to be more careful and thoughtful before I “pop off with my mouth” saying I’ll do something.
• I need the inner strengthening and support that prayer brings – I need to pray more. 
• I need the Lord’s forgiveness for all the times I’ve made promises and haven’t kept them!
• And finally, 4) I need the continual empowering of the Holy Spirit to help me (Peter certainly did… Thank God for Pentecost!!)

(Quotations from Mark 14 NIV)