Why Won't People Listen?

Why Won't People Listen?

Most people want to do things their own way rather than listen and apply good advice ... even when the advice comes from God. Here are a few examples to consider:

ADAM AND EVE
The first recorded incident of disobedience took place in the Garden of Eden when Satan deceived the woman into disobeying a clear command from the Lord God not to eat of one particular tree that stood in the middle of the garden. The Lord had provided many trees from which Adam and Eve could eat, including the Tree of Life and said they could eat from all except The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and told them if they did, they would surely die. Satan convinced the woman that God was not really fair and that if she ate of that tree she would NOT die, but she would become as wise as God. (Genesis 3:1-5) Eve was deceived, and when she looked at the forbidden tree she saw that it's fruit was good for food, pleasant to the eyes and that eating of it might make her wise, she took it, ate it, gave some to her husband, and he also ate of it.

RESULT: Because God always provides grace before judgment. He promised salvation from sin for all those who would come after them. The "seed of the woman" would be the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ who would be born of a virgin and die for our sins as stated in Isaiah 7:14 and in Jeremiah 31:22. Then the Lord placed a curse upon the serpent, upon the woman and upon the man. (Genesis 3:14-19) Afterward they were given a sin nature, and lost their fellowship with the Lord (temporal death), and were driven out of the Garden of Eden so that they could no longer eat from the Tree of Life and live forever in their now sinful condition.

CAIN and ABEL
When the first two sons of Adam were old enough to understand, their parents taught them how to worship the Lord God. (Genesis 4:2-5) Abel understood that a lamb from his flock would be an acceptable offering, but Cain apparently didn't listen, because he presented some beautiful produce, the work of his own hands as an offering, and the Lord rejected it.

Cain became very angry that his offering displeased God, and the Lord said to him, "Why are you so angry? If you would do the right thing, wouldn't I accept your offering? Right now a sin offering is lying outside your door." Cain refused to listen nor did he reply, but he went out and killed his brother Abel.

RESULT: Cain became an outcast among people. He was afraid that his life would be constantly in danger, but the Lord put a special mark on Cain to prevent him from being killed, because capital punishment would not become a law until after the flood in Noah's day. (we must logically assume that many other children were born to Adam and Eve while their first two sons were growing up, because Genesis 5:1-5 records that Adam lived a total of 930 years during which time he became the father of many sons and daughters)

NOAH AND THE FLOOD
Many hundreds of years went by, and there was a tremendous population explosion on the earth. Man's frame of mind became so evil that God decided to destroy all mankind with the
exception of eight people ... Noah, his wife, their three sons and their wives.

It had never rained on the earth before that time, but Genesis 2:5,6 tells us that a mist came up from the earth and watered the face of the earth, so when God told Noah to build an ark to shelter his family, because in 120 years He was going to bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy it, everyone laughed at Noah and would not listen to him.

RESULT: when the 120 years were ended, Noah, his family, and designated animals entered the ark, and God closed the door. Then the Lord opened up the flood gates of water that had been stored under the earth, and He sent rain that had been reserved in the heavens down upon the earth for 150 days until all in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. (Genesis 7:22-24)

NATIONALISM ESTABLISHED BY THE LORD
After the flood, God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth." The Lord also established the use of capital punishment and gave man permission to eat meat. He told Noah that now all animals would be in subjection to mankind. (Genesis 9:2-6)

Last of all. God gave Noah a verbal promise that He would never again destroy the earth with a flood, and gave visual proof of that promise by setting a rainbow in the sky to remind them that He always keeps His word. (Genesis 9:11-17)

Over a period of hundreds of years the entire earth became populated by the children of Shem, Ham and Japheth, the three sons of Noah, and all the people spoke only one language. They
decided to build a city and erect a tower on a plain in the land of Babylonia (Shinar) that would reach up into the heavens and protect them from being scattered over the face of the earth. It
was God's will for the people to settle in various places on the earth, but they wouldn't listen to the Lord, because they wanted to stay together in one place.

Constructing the Tower of Babel was man's first attempt to establish internationalism; however it was contrary to God's will, so He established nationalism by confounding their language so they could not understand one another and had to stop building. Then the Lord scattered the people all over the earth according to their languages. "These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations, and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood." (Genesis 10:32)

(note that Genesis chapter 10 describes the history of mankind after the flood and should follow Chapter 11 which tells how and why the Lord scattered them)

RESULT: by establishing nationalism, God gave freedom to all men, but Satan has always promoted internationalism through which he has greater control over the thoughts and actions of
mankind.

ABRAHAM AND SARAH:
The Lord chose Noah's son SHEM to be the forefather of a man called Abraham, and promised that he would be the father of a brand new race through which He would provide a SAVIOR, namely JESUS, the Son and Christ of God.

The Lord instructed Abraham to leave his homeland, Ur of the Chaldees, and to leave his family and follow Him. The Lord made a promise to Abraham that his name would be great and that he would be a blessing to the whole world. Abraham was willing to follow the Lord, but he evidently wasn't listening carefully to all the instructions, because he took his father Terah and his nephew Lot along with him on the journey. Terah was apparently a worshipper of the moon god as well as being the head of the family, so he directed them to Haran, a city that was famous for the worship of the moon god. They settled down in Haran, and Terah died a few years later. When Abraham was 75 years old, he left Haran and followed the Lord, but Abraham had to pass a number of tests to prove his faith before the Lord would keep His promise to make him great.

One of those tests involved waiting for a son to be born. Would Abraham trust the Lord or would he listen to the bad advice given by Sarah who suggested that he have a child by her handmaid Hagar? Genesis 16:1-4 tells us that he listened to his wife, and Ishmael was born.

When Abraham was 99, the Lord appeared to him and promised he would have a son by Sarah the following year. Abraham believed the Lord, and Isaac was miraculously born.(Genesis 17:1-19)

RESULT: Abraham believed the promises of God and he was called "the friend of God."

ISAAC AND REBEKAH
Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah. Many years went by and they had no children. Isaac prayed for a son, and Rebekah conceived twins in her womb. Before the twins were born, the Lord told Rebekah that the first twin she would bare would serve the second one. Surely she must have told Isaac what the Lord said, but the elder son, Esau, was always his father's favorite and would have inherited the blessings of the firstborn if the younger son, Jacob, had not stolen that blessing from Esau. (Genesis 25:20-34)

RESULT: Even though Isaac didn't listen carefully, the Lord established His covenant with Jacob, thus making Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the forefathers of the Jewish race through which
God would bring the Lord Jesus Christ into the world forty-two generations later. .(Matthew 1:1-17)

MOSES AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL
Moses was a very humble man and was obedient to the Lord throughout his forty years in the wilderness with the rebellious people he led out of Egyptian slavery. When the Children of Israel complained about not having any food, Moses prayed for them, and the Lord sent Manna (angels' food) to them and also quail. When they needed water, Moses prayed to the Lord, and He provided water from a rock on two separate occasions. The first time, the Lord told Moses to "strike the rock", and water came forth abundantly. The second time, the Lord commanded Moses to "speak to the rock", and He would provide water for the people. This time, the complainers were those of the second generation, and the incident took place near the end of the forty years of wandering in the wilderness. (Caleb and Joshua were the only two of the first generation who had not died in the wilderness)

After putting up with the constant complaining of the Children of Israel for forty years, Moses became angry and didn't listen when the Lord commanded him to speak to the rock. Instead, he said to the people, "Hear now, you rebels .... must we bring water out of this rock for you?" Then Moses took his rod and struck the rock twice! Water came out of the rock abundantly, and provided enough for the entire congregation and also for their animals. (Numbers 20:7-11)

RESULT: Even though Moses didn't listen when the Lord told him to speak to the rock, in grace God provided water for all the people and their animals as well. Because of Moses' disobedience, the Lord told Moses and Aaron that they would not take the Children of Israel into the promised land, but they would both die in the wilderness. (Deuteronomy 4:21,22)

The Lord taught the people many times by using illustrations. When He told Moses the first time to strike the Rock and water would be given, it was to teach the people that their promised
Messiah would be smitten ... Christ would die only once, so smiting the rock twice gave the wrong information to the people. Speaking to the Rock would have taught the people about the
Savior who would rise from the dead..

THE TWELVE DISCIPLES
When Jesus and His twelve disciples were away from the crowds that followed them. He clearly taught them that He would be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and scribes who would kill Him, but He would rise from the dead three days later. (Matthew 16:21; Mark 8:31; Luke 9:22) They must not have been listening very carefully, because when Jesus was arrested they became frightened and ran away to hide.

Three days after Jesus was crucified and buried, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and some of the other women took spices and went to the tomb where Jesus body had been placed. When they arrived, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, so they entered and found it empty. Two angels appeared to them and said, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? Remember that He said He would be delivered into the hands of sinful men to be crucified, but He would rise again the third day?" The women remembered those words, and they ran to tell Peter and the other disciples, but they didn't believe what the women said. After that Peter and John went to the tomb and found it empty, and then they remembered the words of Jesus. (Luke 24:1-12)

Later the same day, two of Jesus' followers had left Jerusalem and were walking down the road toward the village of Emmaus. They were discussing the events that had taken place in Jerusalem during the past three days. Jesus joined them and asked why they were so sad, but they didn't recognize Him. One of them asked, "Are you a stranger in Jerusalem? Haven't you
heard about the events of the past three days?" Jesus questioned, "What events?" They replied, "Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet mighty in deeds and words before God and all the people, was
delivered by the chief priests and rulers to be condemned to die, and they have crucified Him. We thought He had come to redeem Israel. Furthermore it has been three days since certain
women of our company reported that they had seen Him and that He is alive!" Then Jesus said to them, "0 foolish ones ... why haven't you believed all that the prophets have written? Ought
not Christ to have suffered these things before entering into His glory?" Then beginning with the teachings of Moses and all the prophets. He showed them from the scriptures the things
concerning Himself, and He made Himself known to them. (Luke 24:13-27)

RESULT: Those who had been closest to Jesus but had not been listening carefully to what He said during the three years He was with them as well as not knowing what was written by Moses and the prophets concerning Jesus caused them to be afraid. (Luke 24:44,45)

There are many other examples in the Bible we could use to show how often people do not listen. We have all been guilty of the same, because we don't always pay attention to what is really
important in life.

Written by Lois Delnay
Layout and web work Wes Miller
10/17/2009

links to Lois Delnay's Children Bible Study
http://gettoknowyourbible.org/
http://loisdelnay.bravehost.com/index.html