They have chosen their own ways,
    and they delight in their abominations;
4 so I also will choose harsh treatment for them
    and will bring on them what they dread.
For when I called, no one answered,
    when I spoke, no one listened.
They did evil in my sight
    and chose what displeases me.’

We have noted this point before, but it is worthy of repetition: we sometimes talk about the problem of unanswered prayer (or apparently unanswered). But God Himself repeatedly faces the problem of an un-answering people.

Why should we expect God to listen to our voices when we don’t listen to His? Mercifully, He does give us His attention, even though we are imperfect beings. But there are times when wilfully holding on to sin (or sins), and refusing to repent, will cause a blockage in our prayer life.

The Isaiah passage shows us that if we go our own way, even though we cover it in a veneer of ‘worship’, it will be ultimately disastrous – unless we turn back to God.

The God who wants our hearts also wants our ears!

PRAYER: ”Oh! give me Samuel’s ear, the open ear, O Lord, alive and quick to hear each whisper of thy word; like him to answer at thy call, and to obey thee first of all.” James Drummond Burns (from the hymn: ‘Hushed was the evening hymn’).