20 When Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, 2 Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put him in the stocks that were at the upper Benjamin Gate, which was by the house of the Lord. 3 On the next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “Pashhur is not the name the Lord has called you, but rather [a]Magor-missabib. 4 For thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am going to make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; and while your eyes look on, they will fall by the sword of their enemies. So I will give over all Judah to the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them away as exiles to Babylon and will slay them with the sword. 5 I will also give over all the wealth of this city, all its produce and all its costly things; even all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give over to the hand of their enemies, and they will plunder them, take them away and bring them to Babylon. 6 And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into captivity; and you will enter Babylon, and there you will die and there you will be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have falsely prophesied.’”
Listening is hard, even more so when there is a lot of noise and distractions all around you. In this passage, Jeremiah gets the attention of the chief officer of the temple, Pashhur the priest. Pashhur is so upset by what Jeremiah is saying to the people that he has Jeremiah beaten and put in the stocks. Jeremiah was no doubt frustrated by this, and probably humiliated, but he certainly had a lot of time on his hands.
Even more so at night when the crowds dispersed, what did Jeremiah do when he wasn’t sleeping (if he slept at all)? Well, it seems Jeremiah was talking and listening to God, because the first thing that happens the next day when Pashhur releases him, is that Jeremiah gives him a fresh message from the Lord.
I was thinking just yesterday how nice it is to be in a place where there’s no noise, and no distractions. I also realized I don’t find such solitude very frequently, if at all. We talk a lot about listening for God’s voice, and certainly we can’t dismiss the idea that God will speak to us any time of any day (if we are listening). However, I think we miss out at times because we have too much noise in our lives.
I wouldn’t advocate for going off and living as a hermit so one can hear God’s voice, as that separates us from the very people God wants us to be with. But we need to find time to be alone with God, a quiet place with no distractions. I know I need to do that, and often, probably every day. If we want to be “about our Father’s business”, as Jesus gave us the example, we need to know what He is saying, so find time, and quiet, to listen to Him today.