<b>Ever Hearing, Never Understanding</b> devotion for 09-MAR-11

&lt;b&gt;Ever Hearing, Never Understanding&lt;/b&gt; devotion for 09-MAR-11

Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst

Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.


Ever Hearing, Never Understanding
One of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
He said, "Go and tell this people: "'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'
Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and dose their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."
Then I said, "For how long, 0 Lord?"
And he answered: "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken.
And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land." - Isaiah 6:6—13 NIV

Never volunteer" is the old Army adage, but when someone's in love he's quick to do anything his beloved asks. Isaiah fell in love with God. So Isaiah volunteered to be God's prophet. He not only heard God's words but he also saw him and cried out that he was ruined. In John 12, the apostle John quoted Isaiah's words as an explanation for why many people didn't accept that Jesus was the Messiah.

The seraphs mentioned in this passage were a kind of angel mentioned only by Isaiah. He said they had three pairs of wings: one pair for flying, one pair for covering their faces, and one pair for covering their feet. Beyond that, we know nothing else about the seraphs. After the seraph told Isaiah his guilt was taken away, God spoke.

God told Isaiah to prophesy to the Israelites, but warned him that they would not pay any attention to him. Isaiah wanted to know how long he'd have to give them God's words if they weren't going to listen. God told Isaiah to keep talking until the nation was destroyed by the invading Assyrians. He added one note of comfort: Israel's devastation would not last forever. Isaiah had the strength to do the hard thing God had asked of him because his love for God carried him through. God's love can carry us through anything we have to face too.