Proverbs 28:9 He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination
We have probably all heard the old story of two friends talking, and one man says, “I’m worried about my wife. She wanders around the house all day talking to herself.” The man’s friend asks, “Does she know she is doing this?” The husband replies, “No, she thinks I’m listening.” None of us like to talk when no one is listening. Just recently I was in one room of my house and my wife was in another, and I was talking to her, not realizing that she wasn’t even there. I was talking to literally no one. If it is a disappointment to talk to no one when you are in your house, it is doubly bad when you are talking to God and no one is listening
Proverbs 28:9 says, “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.” We have a contrast between hearing and asking in prayer. You have the law, God’s perfect law, and abomination, that which is imperfect, a turning from the law. So, even the good things I do will never justify the bad things I do. If someone won’t hear God and turns from Him, even the good things they think and their prayers to God are an abomination.
It is kind of like a mom who says to her son, “Go clean your room.” The son replies, “Well, let me pray about that.” No, she doesn’t want him to pray about it. She wants him to obey. If that is true with a mom, how much more would it be true about you and your heavenly Father. God wants to hear from you, but God wants you to hear from Him. The one does not fly without the other. If I ignore the law, I am regarding iniquity.
Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” So, to ignore the law is to give credence to, regard, and accept iniquity. Thankfully, the psalm goes on to say in verse 19, “But verily God hath heard me: he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.” In short, effective praying begins with good listening. If we want God to hear us, then we need to make sure we are hearing God because one leads to the other; one informs the other.
First, good listening informs me of who God is. The reason I pray and God does not is because God is God and I am not. Sometimes we scold people for asking God for things as if they are manipulating God when the truth is, God doesn’t ask me; I need to ask Him. I am a servant and He is the sovereign, so I ask Him. Is it true that if I disregard God in my life, that I shouldn’t be praying? Yes, this proverb bears that out, but listening to God and what He has said about Himself in His Word informs me of who God is.
Second, good listening informs me of what God wants. Many times, in the Old Testament you hear prayer that says something like, “Please do thus and so for thy name’s sake.” Now, I don’t always know what God’s will is, but I always know what I need and what I want. So, to the extent that I can know what God Himself wants, that is power. The law gives me wisdom and should result in obedience. So, how can I know what God wants as I pray with what I want if I don’t know God’s law, what God has said of Himself? God’s law is God’s wisdom. Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Finally, good listening informs you of what God can do. Someone says, “Faith is not believing that God can; faith is believing that God will.” Well, many times I pray when I don’t know what God will do. That is part of the reason I am praying. So, both are faith, they are just different kinds of faith. I can’t always pray knowing if God will, but I can always pray knowing that God is able. So, knowing what God wants is something different than knowing what God can do, but both are things I can be informed of to the extent that I am a good listener to God.
So, good listening tells us who God is, what God wants, and what God can do. God can do what no one else can do. One of the psalms recalls the children of Israel who were hungry and doubting God in the wilderness. They said, “Can God furnish a table in a wilderness? Can God provide in such poor circumstances?” Yes, God can. So, both God’s will and ability are matters of faith, but if God does not have the power to judge me, how can He possibly have the power to answer my prayer. In other words, if I have turned my ear away from listening to God and I think, “God has no right, will, or power to judge me,” then why would I think that such a God would have the power to answer my prayer. It does not make sense.
“He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.” Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision [utterance from God], the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” So, keeping and knowing the law gives me guidance for my life and results in prayers that are informed of who God is, what God wants, and what God can do because effective prayer begins with good listening.