Jeremiah 7:24: “But they harkened not nor inclined their ear.”

The context of this passage is referring to harkening to the Word of God. For us today that is the Bible which lays it out pretty clear what God expects from us. So I really do get the part of not harkening unto the Word of God.   The Word of God says we are not to commit adultery and I don’t see how it can be more clear than that.  Of course you can play around with that word adultery to mean quite a few things.  Jesus did say lusting in your heart constitutes adultery, but I have heard people play around with that as well. But you know there is someone called the Holy Spirit who lives inside of you and He will make it very clear if you committed adultery or not. So you will know if you harken to the Word of God or not.

But this matter of not inclining one’s ear has me a bit baffled.  This seems to suggest that God is speaking to us and we are not inclining our ear to hear him.   Hey, I don’t know about you but if God starts to speak audibly or out of a cloud, you can bet I will listen or incline my ear and you will too. But quite frankly, I do not recall a time when a voice came of out of a cloud to get my attention. This presents the problem of how in the blazes does he speak to us? Does he speak audibly?   There may be an occasion when He does but that is not His standard way of speaking to us. Maybe just a coincidence, like I feel led to pray to for the town of Melville and then the next morning I read on the internet of a tornado that hit the town of Melville.  Well, this could have been very likely God speaking to me.

Maybe it is more like David Wilkerson’s experience before 9-11.  A couple months before 9-11 David Wilkerson and his church felt a strong leading in their spirits to set aside a special time of prayer for New York City.  This prayer grew into a deep sense of desperation.   On 9-10 David Wilkerson call everyone together to prepare sandwiches and the church went to work preparing hundreds of sandwiches for an event they knew nothing about until the next day on 9-11.   This was  obviously a church which had inclined their ear to God.  I don’t think just because David Wilkerson said let’s stay up all night and make sandwiches that his congregation were that loyal to him, maybe they were but I suspect many others had the same feeling and were really in tune with the heart of God and when David Wilkerson said: “Let’s make sandwiches,” it came as a confirmation to many hearts.

I based this on my findings in the Hebrew for  the word incline which is natah. When you trace this word to its Semitic root you find it is a musician’s term used for the tightening of the strings on a musical instrument.  We call this tuning an instrument.  This involves tightening the strings of an instrument to get just the right tension so when the strings are struck they will be in tune or in harmony with all the other instruments.  In fact the word which is rendered in your English translation as ear is ’azan which means ear, but if you trace this word to its Semitic root  you will find that it is also a musician’s that is used for a musical instrument.

That’s right, this idea of  inclining one’s ear is really a picture of tuning an musical instrument so that it is in tune with other instruments.  Hearing the voice of God is really a matter of tightening the strings of  your spirit or heart so that you are in tune with God’s Spirit or heart.  Last Saturday my study partner and I went to Oak Park River Forest High school in Oak Park where they had a Farmer’s Market.  As my study partner was checking out her vegetarian delights, I wandered to a corner of the market where about a dozen amateur musicians who were sitting under a tent, each with a different musical instrument. There were a couple guitars, an electric guitar, a banjo, a violin and base fiddle, a mandolin and other various stringed instruments.  I walked up just as they were tuning up. For a moment there were all sort hideous sounds coming from these instruments until someone started to play, then all of a sudden each instrument started to join in with the others all in the same key and the same tune creating a harmonious musical sound that was absolutely beautiful.   I marveled at how each one was picking or strumming their instrument in their own way or own style and it just blended in beautifully. Different instruments, different styles, different strumming or picking and yet it all blended harmoniously.  I could not help but think of the words natan ‘azan inclining one’s ear.

You know, we may have different instruments of theology and doctrine, we may have our own style of worship, some strumming or some picking away.  Some may be more formal with a violin or more few spirited with a banjo or even foreign with a mandolin yet if we are all in tune with God we will be natan ‘azan inclining our ear and we will hear the same message from God and if we harken unto His Word we can accomplish more than we can ever imagine.

I recently read a book by Mark Siljander, a former Congressman and UN Ambassador for the United States.  He told hold he was with four other men in India, one was a Buddhist, another was Hindu, a third was Muslim and he was a Christian.  It was suggest that they have a word of prayer.  He did  not say: “Let us all bow our heads and pray in our own way.”  He said: “You believe in God, I believe in God, you believe in prayer I believe in prayer, let’s pray together.”  They joined hands and all prayed together.

I know some evangelicals may not like that but I believe what I was reading was natan ‘azan, inclining one’s ear.  They each had a different instrument and strum or pick, but they all were in harmony.  Take what you want from it, I call it natan ‘azan. My God is a God of harmony not disunity.  The enemy is an enemy of disharmony and disunity.  God just likes to listen to the beautiful music of prayer that is natan ‘azan.