A Hearing God

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

A HEARING GOD

John 9:24-34

24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God," they said. "We know this man is a sinner." 25 He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!" 26 Then they asked him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" 27 He answered, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?" 28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow's disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from." 30 The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." 34 To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him out.

NIV

They were not satisfied the first time, so they had to have one more conversation about this healing. The Pharisees are convinced Jesus is a sinner, which has to come from the fact as they interpret the law, he violated the Sabbath. That would make him a sinner, not like them, for they do not violate the Sabbath and therefor they are righteous, they do not sin. Self-righteousness is a killer, it murders the soul, it destroys the spirit, sending it to the place of perishing. All their education in the law, all their knowledge has actually blinded them to the truth. Of course, they have used the law or manipulated the law for their own benefit, while this man born blind from birth has a greater understanding of the character of God then these Pharisees. This man born blind makes a great theological statement, although it is certain he is not a theologian. He begins telling the Pharisees their ideas are remarkable. The fact they believe they are disciples of Moses and know God spoke to Moses, but as far as this fellow Jesus, they don’t even know where he is from. They are saying as far as their concerned, Jesus is nobody, just another sinner, an upstart maybe, but he is not one of them. The Pharisees want this man to give the glory to God for his sight, not to this fellow, this sinner, who works and causes people to work on the Sabbath, who violates the law. However, this man born blind, who now can see, makes it clear, God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Wow, that is coming from a regular kind of Jew, not one of the group, the highly learned. Look at the response of the Pharisees, so judgmental, so self-righteous, so wrong, and so steeped in sin. They accuse this man of being steeped in sin from birth, in other words, sin caused him to be born blind. How foolish they are in their attitudes. What do we learn from all this? First, it would make sense not to think too highly of ourselves. Second, it would make sense we should not judge anyone, but reserve all judgment for God. Third, we should understand God does not listen to sinners. Now, what does that mean, for we are sinners? Does that mean God does not hear our prayers? Perhaps that only applies to those who are not saved, the lost, the sinner who has not repented and accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. But then how are they going, actually how did we get saved if God does not listen to sinners? He hears the prayer of repentance. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, so we need to repent if we want God to hear of prayer. This cannot be a one-time repentance thing and then all our prayers are heard. If we look at David, in many of the psalms he wrote, he was always filled with repentance, over and over again. It would make sense that we should seek forgiveness of our sin each day before we even ask God to do anything for us. Whatever we pray for, it would be wise to seek forgiveness for our failures, our failings, or our sin. If we say we have none we deceive ourselves and call God a liar. Oh, hear our prayer! Cleanse our hearts, purify our minds, our hearts, our being, so that we can hear from you, and you will hear from us, as we seek your counsel, your guidance, your direction for us, and your healing. Speak to your servant dear Lord, give us ears to hear, a heart that listens and a spirit that obeys.