Isaiah 65:24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear
Have you ever had a forty-five-minute conversation in which you didn’t say a word? That isn’t really a conversation; that is a monologue. Maybe you have had such a conversation with a person and they later tell someone else that you were such a great conversationalist. The reason they think that is because you didn’t say anything. You just asked the right questions and let them talk. Spurgeon said, “The object of prayer is the ear of God.” I think that is exactly correct. So, what about your ear? Are you merely asking or talking to God or are you asking God as an informed child of God? That is, are you asking, but also listening?
You see, prayer is in some sense a two-way street. In Isaiah 65 you find the ideal. Verse 24 says, “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” This is an ideal. This is in a time which verse 17 says God will create a new heavens and a new earth. Verse 25 says, “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together.” God who can create a wolf can create a wolf that will lie down with the lamb, but that is not the reality right now. Likewise, verse 24 is not the reality in most people’s lives, that “before they call, I will answer.” This is the ideal, that God knows before you ask.
When I go to preach revival meetings in local churches, I often send ahead an “advance packet” which explains how we will be coming, that we live in a fifth wheel, etc. The advance packet answers questions so we can be helpful. I don’t ever have to do that with my wife. I don’t ever send my wife an advance packet that tells her what I need, how I am, and how I think. I don’t need to do that because my wife already knows. We know the significance of everything to each other. That is the ideal, and, no doubt about it, God knows you and wishes to answer prayer.
In verse 2 we have the reality of these people. God says, “I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts.” He is saying, “I’ve been stretching out my hand to them, talking to them, and they say nothing.” God says in verse 5 that the things they do are a smoke in His nose. Verse 7 talks about the incense they burn upon the mountains that was not pleasing to God. Were these people of God any better off than the heathen?
Verse 1 says, “I am sought of them that ask not for me.” Perhaps this is a reply to Isaiah 63:19 where the people say, “We are thine.” They appealed to God’s ownership saying, “Thou never barest rule over them [those who impressed them]; they were not called by thy name.” God replied in Isaiah 65:1, “I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.” So, the Bible makes it clear that God hears us because we are in obedience or have an open ear to Him.
In Romans 10 God uses Paul to quote these very words in verse 20. He says, “But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.” This is in contrast to a disobedient and gainsaying people who were ignorant of God’s righteousness. They went to establish their own righteousness and did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God.
So, you have God’s own people who had stopped their ears at God’s appeals. If I’ve done wrong by my wife, should I expect my wife to be as attentive to me if I am ignoring her? The answer is no. Haven’t you been in a relationship with someone when they seem to be dull? They don’t get it and don’t seem to be hearing to know what you want? The fact is they do know what you want, but there is a wall between you and them, so they can’t really hear the way they should. They know what is needed, but they don’t hear because they have been ignored. God is not merely some spouse who has been ignored. God is the God of the universe; however, you see a difference between the ideal that God answers before we even ask and the reality of God’s own people not listening to Him.
That brings us to the choice. What will we do? In Isaiah 65:10 God talks about blessings that are for “my people that have sought me.” In contrast to those who have sought God, He says, “But ye are they that forsake the LORD.” In verse 12 He says, “When I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.” Earlier, Isaiah 59 says, “The LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”
When it comes to prayer, I need to be asking. That is prayer by definition, asking, an appeal. But I am not going to make prayers I should if I am not hearing the things I should. So, there are two things that are important in a reality where prayer is a two-way street. First, there is my conscience. If there is something I know is not right, I need to acknowledge that. Sometimes I don’t acknowledge what it is I know, but God knows what I know. So, am I violating my conscience. If I am violating my conscience, then I am violating the privilege of being heard by God who knows me to my core.
Second, I should be listening to God’s Word. My conscience should be developed with God’s Word. We are not merely talking about someone who has a timid temperament or is a worrier. I am talking about a conscience, which means “with knowledge.” I should have an ethic that is based on something I know. Is my conscience informed by God’s Word?
God hears prayer. I pray because I am a servant, and God hears because He is God. But prayer is a two-way street. The ideal is that God hears before I call, and the reality that has existed in the past is that God spreads His hands but rebellious people don’t listen. Then, there is the choice. Will we be a people who have sought God or will we be those who do not answer, hear, or pay attention? God wants to hear my prayer and your prayer, so make sure that before you ask you listen.