What if God isn’t listening?

Can you imagine your life if God didn’t hear a word of your prayers?

“When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong.” – Isaiah 1:15-16 NIV

Reflection

I’ve read Isaiah before, but I never slowed down here. When I hit these verses, it was like hitting a wall. What if God isn’t listening to me? Am I really that different from the people Isaiah was calling out?

Isaiah trying to wake some people up

The truth is, God was frustrated with His people. They were doing the right rituals, offering the right sacrifices, but nothing was changing. They sinned, sacrificed, and then went right back to sinning. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

That’s where it hits close to home. What sins do I repeat? The ones that don’t seem “big,” but are still sins? How many times have I gone to God asking forgiveness, only to circle right back into the same mess?

Isaiah wasn’t quoting Jesus here. This was God Himself, telling His prophet exactly how He felt about His people. We get a glimpse of how exhausting our half-hearted obedience must look from heaven’s perspective.

At Church but not at Church

And that leads to us. The well-meaning, good-hearted, Bible-reading Christians. If we’re not careful, we fall into the same trap. We talk about repentance, but do we actually change? Or do we treat forgiveness like an automatic reset button, never really cutting off the sin at the root?

I’d love to say I don’t sin. But the truth is, I do. And sometimes I only see it when I slow down and replay what I said or did. If I want to reflect God well, if I’m bold enough to write about faith, then I need to make sure my relationship with Him is right and stays right. Even the smallest sin pulls me away from Him.

Prayer helps us hear God if we are willing to listen

So maybe the real question isn’t “Is God listening?” Maybe it’s “Are we?”

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for the wake-up call. Thank You for Jesus, for showing us another way, and for ending the endless sacrifices. Help me feel the weight of sin, even the small ones, and to turn from them for good. Keep my ears open and my heart tuned to You. And please, Lord, keep listening. I promise I’ll keep listening too. In Jesus’ name, Amen.