“Will you not receive instruction and listen to my words? declares the LORD.”
“But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the LORD.”
Hosea 11:2 The more they were called, the more they went away;
Hosea 11:7 My people are bent on turning away from me, and though they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all.
Deuteronomy 29:2-4 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. But to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.
1 Samuel 8:7-9 And the LORD said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you.
Jeremiah 44:16-17 “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you. But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster.
Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
2 Chronicles 36:15-16 The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against his people, until there was no remedy.
2 Kings 17:13-15 But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God. They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them.
Nehemiah 9:30 Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear.
Isaiah 30:9-11 For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD; …let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
John 3:19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
Luke 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
God is slow to anger and is full of grace, mercy and love. This is fully displayed in and through Christ “for while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” I wonder if we’re guilty of living in this grace, mercy, and love of God disregarding His word, resisting the Holy Spirit, not hearing or following or obeying His leading, rejecting truth for lies, replacing being a humble servant to Him for self, coveting what the world has to offer, seeking satisfaction for the heart and soul through everything other than Him and His word, and giving no thought to honoring, worshiping, glorifying and praising Him through what we think, say, and do.
Do not mistake the steadfast love of God for acceptance of complacency, neglect, self satisfaction, busyness, resistance and rejection or the Holy Spirit’s leading, and lukewarm commitment to Him.
Can you hear the warning given in Scripture? Can you understand the heart of man leads toward a path away from God? Do you recognize the choice set before you?