July 1, 2025 - Jeremiah 6:10 - "Who Hath Ears to Hear?"

Jeremiah 6:10

 "To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it."

The prophet Jeremiah, under God's sovereign commission, delivers God’s indictment against Judah for their persistent rebellion and spiritual deafness. Though outwardly religious, the people despised the Word of the LORD and trusted in false peace. This verse laments their hardened condition. It exposes the utter inability of man, in his natural state, to receive or respond to the truth of God. Spiritual deafness is not a mere weakness—it is a willful rejection rooted in a corrupt nature. Only by the Spirit of God's sovereign intervention can the heart be opened, the ear unstopped, and the soul made willing in the day of His power. The uncircumcised ear points to the need for a circumcised heart—a work that Christ alone accomplishes for His elect through the Spirit and by the power of His finished work on the cross. This passage magnifies the necessity of sovereign grace, for it is only in Christ that the Word of the LORD becomes precious, life-giving, and effectual to save.

This sobering lament from the prophet Jeremiah reveals the spiritual condition of a people hardened in unbelief. It is not merely a historical indictment against ancient Judah—it declares the universal plight of fallen sinners by nature: deaf to God’s Word, dead in trespasses, and hostile to the truth of God's grace in Christ (Romans 3:23).

Jeremiah’s cry is more than that of a frustrated preacher; it is a divine lament from the LORD Himself, speaking through His servant. “To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear?” This is not a question of needing to inform God, because God knows all things in His sovereign omniscience. He does not ask the question for information but rather as an expression of grief. It is as though God is saying, “Where are those who will listen? Who has a heart prepared to receive My Word?” But the answer is devastating: “their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken.”

To be uncircumcised in heart and ear means to remain in the flesh—unregenerate, unresponsive, and unmoved by the truth. As Paul echoes in Romans 8:7, “the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” There is no neutral ground. Man in his fallen state does not merely refuse God’s Word—he cannot hear it. It is not a matter of volume, clarity, or intellect. The issue lies in the heart. Until God's Spirit changes the heart, there is no hearing the Voice of the Shepherd.

But why such rejection of the Word? The text tells us: “the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach.” The Word that brings light and life to God’s elect is to the natural man offensive, foolish, and intolerable. Why? Because it strips him of self-righteousness. It exalts Christ alone. It declares salvation to be of the LORD—not of man, not of merit, not of effort—but by grace alone, through faith in Christ alone. And that, to the unconverted flesh, is unbearable.

Yet here is the glory of God's sovereign grace in Christ. Even though man cannot and will not hear, God is not hindered. The same LORD Who speaks in Jeremiah is the same Who, through Christ, makes the deaf to hear and the dead to live. Jesus declared in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” How? Not by their natural ability, but by sovereign power. He gives ears to hear and hearts to believe. This is all by the grace of God alone.

When God the Holy Spirit circumcises the heart, the Word is no longer a reproach but a delight. What was once hated becomes precious (1 Peter 2:7). What once condemned now comforts. Christ crucified, risen, and reigning becomes the soul’s Joy and Righteousness.

This verse, then, drives us to dependence, not on man’s response, but on God’s regenerating grace. It reminds the preacher to cast the seed, but look to God to give the increase (Ecclesiastes 11:1). It warns every hearer not to trust in fleshly efforts or empty profession but to seek that true hearing which comes only by the Spirit of God.

May we pray with humility: “Lord, give us ears to hear Your Word. Let us not despise the voice of Christ, but receive it with joy and trembling. Make our heart receptive to Your truth and our soul hungry for Your grace. For it is only by Your sovereign grace in Christ that any sinner ever hears and lives. Amen.”