Episode 52: Hearing God when no-one listens, or you’re struggling with God’s call on your life.

Aug 11, 2024 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

If you are struggling with God’s call on your life, the story of Jeremiah and his response to God is extremely relevant. Jeremiah is a story of ups and downs, redemption and bitterness, rejection, loneliness, ridicule, backstabbing, murder, deceit, courage, imprisonment and danger – all for being faithful to what God said. If ever there was a time for someone to say, “I told you so”, Jeremiah had the right. Jeremiah is a reminder that we are to go directly to God and not base our ‘hearing from God’ through other people. But the book of Jeremiah and his life is also a story of hope and promise – if you seek to find God, you will not be disappointed. Join us in this latest episode of the ‘Hearing God’ Podcast as we look at how the prophet Jeremiah heard from God.

Episode Notes:

Background to Jeremiah

  • Set in the 6th and 7th century BC (627-587BC) Jeremiah was a contemporary of Daniel, Habakkuk, and Ezekiel.
  • The nation of Israel was divided into two Kingdoms. Israel in the Northern Kingdom (which had been wiped out and the people in exile in Babylon) and Judah in the Southern Kingdom – they had the city of Jerusalem in their Kingdom.
  • Jeremiah prophesied various other reigns would come and go until finally Babylon, under King Nebuchadnezzar, would become the superpower that invaded Jerusalem, would overthrow its armies and carry most of the remaining people of Judah away into captivity. Jeremiah was left there until politicians betrayed him and finally taken as a captive to Egypt, where he died as an unsung hero, stoned to death by his own people.
  • Jeremiah spent over 40 years as a watchman for Judah and warning the nation without people listening to him and obeying.
  • Jeremiah must have sounded like a ‘stuck record’. Kept saying – warning – God is going to punish you, not only punish you but use an evil King (Nebuchadnezzar) and nation to carry it out. But in the end, he will bring you back like the potter’s house.
  • He was imprisoned, thrown down a muddy well to die, beaten and abused.
  • There are many famous verses throughout Jeremiah. Example: 29:11; 33:3; 30:24; 17:7-8; 30:17, etc.
  • Chapter 1 – the call of Jeremiah. He felt inadequate. He was born the son of a priest and grew up in the Levitical town of Anathoth, where only priests lived, meaning he would become one too. His father’s name was Hilkiah, and scholars say he may well have been the priest who one day was tidying up in the Temple, moved some dusty scrolls and discovered a copy of the law of Moses! As he read it, he saw how far away from God the nation had fallen, so he showed it to King Josiah who was so convicted by it he got the whole nation to listen to the words then tear down their idols and turn back to God.
  • His dad modelled doing hard things!! Thus, his inner heart condition, as opposed to external acceptance and praise, was his family’s priority.
  • False prophets abounded. Hananiah was the main one. Hananiah kept prophesying God’s graciousness and that all the exiles would return from Babylon within two years and everything would be alright. Hananiah, by his prophesying, encouraged the Israelites to keep sinning and to live as they pleased and thereby resist God’s will and God’s Word. Word of caution: If we are unsure if it is from God or if it affirms sinful living, it is not of God. It is much harder to hear God if you crave acceptance or struggle with pride.
  • In chapter 26:20-23, we read about Uriah, son of Shemamiah from Kiriath Jearim (Not Uriah the Hittite, who David had killed after he had slept with Uriah’s wife Bathsheba). Uriah was a prophet who prophesied in a way similar to Jeremiah. King Jehoiakim threatened to kill him as he didn’t like what he said. Uriah was scared and escaped to Egypt. The King sent men to bring him back, and the King then beheaded him and threw him into a pauper’s grave. At the same time, Jeremiah stood firm. He cried out to God but stood firm. Do we stand firm in times of trial?

First Principle: Hearing God means setting aside time to hear God in the quiet.

  • Jeremiah was a watchman – he spent time with God, seeing and hearing what God was saying and then proclaiming it.
  • God spoke audibly to Jeremiah and through imagery. Chapter 1 – look around you, what do you see:
    • A stick/branch of an almond tree. I’m watching and sticking with you to see my word fulfilled.
    • Boiling pot/cauldron from the north would tip out its hot contents and destroy Juday.
    • The Potter’s house and God reworking the clay being an image of God bringing Israel back from Babylon and restoring them.
  • Chapter 30:2 God tells Jeremiah to write everything I tell you in a book. Often, God will tell us what to do and give us strategies.
  • God spoke audibly to Jeremiah. Numerous times throughout the book of Jeremiah, he says, “This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah…”
  • God spoke to Jeremiah through visions and pictures. Chapter 24 – two baskets of figs – one good fruit, the other bad fruit, symbolising the initial people in exile and the remaining Judean government.
  • God spoke to Jeremiah and asked him to do prophetic acts.
    • Chapter 19 – go and buy a pottery jar and smash it, representing what I will do to my people.
    • Chapter 27 to make a yoke out of straps and crossbars and put it on his neck and send word to enemy nations that they’ll be subject to King Nebuchadnezzar, and if they don’t bow their neck under his yoke, they will be punished with sword, famine and plague.
    • Chapter 32:15 – buy a field as a prophetic act that houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.
  • God gave Jeremiah practical strategies – chapter 36: take a scroll, write on it, take it to the Temple, and read it.
  • In chapter 42, the army officials approached Jeremiah and asked him to petition God on behalf of the remnant. Verse 7 – ten days later, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. Jeremiah persevered. Sometimes, our prayers are not answered instantaneously. We need to keep praying.

Second Principle: In hearing God, don’t be afraid to question God and check what you are hearing

  • God is big enough to question Him and bring our frustrations to Him. We see this time and time again throughout Jeremiah.
  • In Jeremiah’s calling in chapter 1, we see that Jeremiah is unsure.
  • Verse 5 ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.’
  • Jeremiah said, “I’m too young. I don’t know how to speak.” He questioned God and his own ability. He didn’t see himself as God saw him. Our identity is important in hearing God otherwise we can dismiss what we hear.
  • Love how God uses people who don’t know how to speak to be his mouthpiece. Moses in Exodus 4:10 I can’t speak. I’m not eloquent. I stutter and stumble.
  • Can’t take any credit for it ourselves. 1 Corinthians 1:27 God uses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.

Third Principle: Keep your heart turned to God, pure and focused on Him, not what others say and do.

  • Jeremiah must have had the worst job description ever. He is known as the ‘weeping’ prophet.
  • In chapter 20, he is pouring his heart out to God and complaining about his role, and verse 7 says, ‘it’s not fair, you deceived me in my calling. People ridicule and mock me all day long’. Imagine what his mental health must have been like!!
  • Verse 9 then says, “But if I say, ‘I will not mention his wordor speak any more 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.” Can we say that?
  • If you want to hear God clearly, be prepared for rejection and do not pander to the status quo.
  • During the hard times, and there are always hard times for everyone, we need to remember the call of God. The things he’s spoken to us and promised us. We have to hold onto them or we’ll give way to doubt and give up.
  • We need wisdom and discernment. James 1:5-6
  • The only way for evil to prevail is for good men to say and do nothing.
  • Check the source of what you are hearing. Ch 23:16 “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.” These false prophets spoke messages of hope – nothing wrong with that, but it was the wrong season. The real issue was the heart and the source – not from God.
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.” Be aware there will be people who speak from a source other than God. Test what they say. Do they come true? Don’t allow fear to dismiss all you hear. Weigh it up. Hold on to what God is showing you.
  • In prophesying (hearing God for others), we need to prophesy what God wants us to say, not what others want to hear.
  • Jeremiah 38 – the officials said to kill him, he’s too discouraging. Ended up putting him in a muddy cistern. This was after he had been under house arrest and imprisoned.
  • If you’re going through a hard time, chapters 31 and 32 are great to memorise, decree, battle and war with.
  • God can and will use anyone, often the humble to shame the proud. God desires true obedience and a pure heart.
  • Jeremiah’s prayers and prophecies affected not only his own nation but also Egypt, Assyria and Babylon. Imagine what our prayers and prophecies could do when we listen to God and act on what He is calling us to do.

Summary:

  1. Hearing God means setting aside time to hear God in the quiet.
  2. In hearing God, don’t be afraid to question God and check what you are hearing
  3. Keep your heart turned to God, pure and focused on Him, not what others say and do.

Prophetic Activation:

Turn your heart and thoughts to Father God and ask Him –

  • “God, what is something ‘hard’ that I need to hear from You? Something I need to change? Something new You would love me to do?”

Time Stamps:

[2:38] – Gary & Jane share briefly how they have heard God this week.

[4:13] – Background to the story of Jeremiah.

[9:31] – First Principle: Hearing God means setting aside time to hear God in the quiet.

[12:46] – Second Principle: In hearing God, don’t be afraid to question God and check what you are hearing.

[15:21] – Third Principle: Keep your heart turned to God, pure and focused on Him, not what others say and do.

[20:32] – Recap the principles.

[21:04] – Prophetic activation.

[22:03] – Gary & Jane both share a prophetic word for a listener.

[23:58] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • Jeremiah – the whole book, but particularly 25:3; 29:11; 33:3; 30:17; 26:20-23; 30:2; 20:7,9; 23:16; chapters 1, 28, 18, 24, 27, 42, 31, 32,
  • Exodus 4:10
  • 1 Corinthians 1:27
  • James 1:5-6
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22
  • James 5:16

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