Tuesday, September 22, 2020
![will-religion-become-a-thing-of-the-past.jpg.crop_display[1]](https://thenoontimes.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/will-religion-become-a-thing-of-the-past-crop_display1.jpg)
A Famine of Hearing
Yes, days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send famine upon the land; not a famine of bread, or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the Lord.
The Shema from Deuteronomy 6:4-9 begins: Hear, O Israel! And yet, do we listen? In 1 Samuel 3:11 we are told: The Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle”. The prophet Isaiah tells us Isaiah 30:21: Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left. From Jeremiah 19:3: Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold I am about to bring a calamity upon this place, at which the ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle. And Ezekiel 12:2: Son of man, you live in the midst of the rebellious house, who have eyes to see but do not see, ears to hear but do not hear; for they are a rebellious house. Zechariah 7:11: But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing. And Jesus in Mark 4:23: He who has ears to hear, let him hear. And yet . . . do we listen? What is the origin of our famine of hearing?
God says: When a large crowd was coming together, and those from the various cities were journeying to him, he spoke by way of a parable: “The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled underfoot and the birds of the air ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out. Other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great.” As he said these things, he would call out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Luke 8:4-8)
For millennia God has spoken to us. We humans have the spiritual ears to hear. Let us be bearers of the word, witnesses of the kingdom, and carriers of the Good News. And let us do all that we can to end this famine of hearing.
For more information about The Shema, visit: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/shema.html or enter the word Shema in the blog search bar and explore.
For a commentary on the famine of the word (“Will Religion Become a Thing of the Past”), click on the image above or go to: http://www.ucg.org/commentary/will-religion-become-thing-past/
The Noontimes 
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