Spiritual pitfalls: An unteachable heart

As a teacher, there are few things more frustrating than having students that don’t want to learn. 

I’ve been in classrooms where students show no effort whatsoever, and look almost at shock at you when you try to encourage them to do an activity.

I suppose the one thing that is worse than that are students who think they know it all.  They take an attitude of “I know already.  You don’t have to tell me.  I already know everything.” 

And yet when you ask them about the subject matter, it’s clear that they don’t know nearly as much as they think they do.

That’s what the Israelites were like, even their “priests and prophets.” 

I put quotations there because what priests and prophets they had in the northern kingdom were false priests and false prophets who had syncretized the true faith with the worship of false idols.

In this passage, Isaiah pictures them as worthless men, drunk and befuddled. 

These men who were supposed to lead people in the worship of God, were instead seeing wine-induced “visions” that were leading people away from God rather than toward him. 

But whenever Isaiah or any of the true prophets tried to correct them, they would scoff saying,

Who is it he is trying to teach?  To whom is he explaining his message?  To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken from the breast? 

For it is: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there.”  (Isaiah 28:9-10)

In other words, “We already know everything.  We’re not children.  All he’s doing is speaking gibberish.” 

(The words “do and do, rule on rule, a little here, a little there” are literally translated from what are meaningless like sounds in the Hebrew.  “sav lasav sav lasav,kav lakav kav lakav, ze’ er sham, ze’ er sham.”)

It calls to mind what the Athenians said of Paul after he started arguing with them, calling him a mere babbler.  (Acts 17:18)

But because of this attitude, Isaiah warns the Israelite priests and prophets that these “meaningless” words would be followed by more words that were meaningless to them, words spoken by the foreign powers that would enslave them.

God’s desire was that they would rest in him.  That they would love and put their trust in him.  And if they would only do so, he would be their resting place, a place where the weary could rest. (Isaiah 28:12)

But because they turned their backs on him, he said that this word that they rejected would be their downfall.

It’s the same story today.  Many people hear the Gospel of Christ in all its simplicity, and dismiss it as mere babble.  As a children’s story that real adults grow out of.

But by rejecting him who is our salvation, they fall into sin and eternal judgment.

Even Christians can fall into the trap of “I know.” 

They go to church, and when they hear the message, they say, “I know this already.” 

Or simply, “I don’t really want to hear this,” and they turn off their ears and miss what God’s trying to tell them. 

In doing so, they not only miss the warnings God may be trying to give them, but also his blessings.

How about you?  What do you do with the words of God?  Do you reject them as mere babble?  Or do you take them into your heart?  Do you let them transform you?

So often, we wonder why we have so many problems in our lives.  We wonder why we don’t seem to find God’s blessings in our lives.  Most of the time, it’s because we’re not listening.

What kind of heart do you have?