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He is dead.  Your father is gone.  I had the unenviable task of breaking the news to an adult daughter that her father had passed away.  “No!!!”  she screamed.  “I don’t believe it!”  “I won’t believe it!” 

One of the hardest parts of being a pastor is at times being the one that delivers bad news.  Whether it is in a moment like the one mentioned, or even in front of a leadership team or to a congregation.  But, that comes with the territory and is not news to anyone.  The part that I want to focus on is the response.   “I won’t believe it!”

I spent my recent vacation doing some light reading.  I read the Book of Jeremiah the prophet in the Old Testament.  Okay, so maybe not so light.  Jeremiah is a tough book, and he was a tough prophet.  He prophesied at a time when Israel was not doing so good in God’s eyes.  He continually told them what God wanted them to hear, but they continually did not listen.  They even called him a liar!

The people were living life, and everything was good as far as they were concerned.  They had no awareness of how far they had wandered from God, and they did not want to know.  They put Jeremiah in all kinds of horrible places so that they would not have to listen to him.  They accused him of lying and making stuff up.  They liked their lives and refused to see that they were headed down and deadly path.

Sometimes it is difficult to hear things that we don’t want to hear.  It can be a real problem and is probably the biggest reason that we don’t hear God in our lives on a consistent basis.  Believe it or not, sometimes God’s plans are different from ours!  I know, shocking!  We pray for direction, wisdom, discernment, and even Heavenly advice.  However, we are prone to only hear what we want and shut out anything that jeopardizes our way.  Often in big moments, we can almost be heard saying “I don’t believe it!  I won’t believe it!”  

Israel suffered everything God said they would through Jeremiah.  Most of us are not facing nation ending consequences, but we are often facing missing out on God’s very best.  When we choose our way because we refuse to hear His way, we have taken a path that will lead to far less than what might have been.  

I get it and I experience it as often as anyone.  It is not always easy to do life God’s way.  But I can also testify that it is always the best way.  So, when you can, take your fingers out of your ears and humble yourself before God and do your best to listen.  He always wants what is best for us.