He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.
Turning the ear away from hearing God's law by refusing to listen to and obey it makes even a person's prayer detestable and offensive to God, so that He does not regard or accept it. Worship without obedience to His commandments cannot please Him. To fear God and give Him glory therefore requires keeping His law.
Cherishing sin while turning away from obeying His law brings prayer under this judgment, and possessing the ark and sanctuary, offering sacrifices, or being called His people does not make prayer acceptable when the heart rejects His law. Prayer does not excuse deliberate rejection of God's instruction. The verse exposes profession of knowing Him without obedience, shown by selfishness, pride, envy, malice, gossip and other evil conduct revealing hearts not obedient to Christ, and such profession without works dishonors the truth. Religious claims and spiritual pretensions do not excuse rejection of the commandments, for the Spirit leads people in the path of obedience and God's Word is the test of spiritual teaching.
Rebellion by turning from His counsel and disobeying His Word keeps prayers from reaching Him and makes petitions unacceptable, while obedience to His Word leads His people in safe paths under His protection and enables them through Christ to overcome their foes. Merely formal religion that lacks godliness and disregards what pleases God does not make a person acceptable to Him, and such people must repent and become zealous rather than presume they will be saved as they are. The verse applies to people who treat religion as outward form, insist on their own choices without regard for offending God, and do not follow His teachings and Spirit, so their lives do not please Him and their prayers are offensive.
God will not accept willfully imperfect service, and those who claim to be sanctified while refusing to hear the law show themselves to be disobedient with unspiritual hearts that are not subject to God's law and cannot be on their own. Such a claim to sanctification repeats the deception of Satan, who claimed to be sanctified while exalting himself above God even in heaven, corrupting a large number of angels and winning their sympathy for his selfish interest, and who when tempting Christ in the wilderness claimed to be sanctified as a pure angel from the heavenly courts. Jesus was not deceived by those pretensions, and neither will those be deceived who live by every word proceeding from God.
Turning the ear away from hearing God's law by refusing to listen to and obey it makes even a person's prayer detestable and offensive to God, so that He does not regard or accept it. Worship without obedience to His commandments cannot please Him. To fear God and give Him glory therefore requires keeping His law.
Cherishing sin while turning away from obeying His law brings prayer under this judgment, and possessing the ark and sanctuary, offering sacrifices, or being called His people does not make prayer acceptable when the heart rejects His law. Prayer does not excuse deliberate rejection of God's instruction. The verse exposes profession of knowing Him without obedience, shown by selfishness, pride, envy, malice, gossip and other evil conduct revealing hearts not obedient to Christ, and such profession without works dishonors the truth. Religious claims and spiritual pretensions do not excuse rejection of the commandments, for the Spirit leads people in the path of obedience and God's Word is the test of spiritual teaching.
Rebellion by turning from His counsel and disobeying His Word keeps prayers from reaching Him and makes petitions unacceptable, while obedience to His Word leads His people in safe paths under His protection and enables them through Christ to overcome their foes. Merely formal religion that lacks godliness and disregards what pleases God does not make a person acceptable to Him, and such people must repent and become zealous rather than presume they will be saved as they are. The verse applies to people who treat religion as outward form, insist on their own choices without regard for offending God, and do not follow His teachings and Spirit, so their lives do not please Him and their prayers are offensive.
God will not accept willfully imperfect service, and those who claim to be sanctified while refusing to hear the law show themselves to be disobedient with unspiritual hearts that are not subject to God's law and cannot be on their own. Such a claim to sanctification repeats the deception of Satan, who claimed to be sanctified while exalting himself above God even in heaven, corrupting a large number of angels and winning their sympathy for his selfish interest, and who when tempting Christ in the wilderness claimed to be sanctified as a pure angel from the heavenly courts. Jesus was not deceived by those pretensions, and neither will those be deceived who live by every word proceeding from God.