GOD HEARS THE BLEAT OF THE LAMB

“I love the Lord, for He heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy. Because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live.”  Psalm 116:1, 2.

For some inexplicable reason, the people of Israel were bent on worshipping idols. Despite the prophets pleading, cajoling, and warning them, they persisted in their idolatry until things went badly for them and then they cried out to God for help. The prophets often tried to show the people how foolish they were to worship things they had created that were deaf, dumb, and immobile. In Isaiah 44, the prophet points out the foolishness of crafting an idol out of half a piece of wood and using the other half to bake his bread. How can something created by a woodcarver, or a blacksmith hear a cry for help? But they refused to listen.

The idol is a burdensome object that must be carried by a beast of burden because it cannot carry itself. But God said, “Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and grey hairs I am He and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” Isaiah 46:3, 4.

In contrast to the powerlessness of an idol to do anything, the psalmist praised God for His tender love. He heard the bleat of the lamb and responded to his cry. It makes me think of Jesus – the Father’s personal representative on earth. How often He heard the faint sound of the lamb’s bleat and responded immediately.

Take the story of Bartimaeus, for example. Jesus was leaving Jericho, surrounded by an excited and noisy crowd. Bartimaeus was a blind beggar sitting on the roadside hoping for a handout. He heard the din and recognised the name of the healer who happened to be passing by. He began to shout to Jesus, crying for mercy and hoping He would hear him above the babble of voices. How could one voice be heard above the rest when Jesus was being mobbed by shouting people? The people tried to shut Bartimaeus up because, after all, he was nobody, unimportant, just a blind beggar, but Jesus heard him because His heart was tuned in to the bleat of the lamb.

Jesus always heard, and never turned away from a cry for mercy. He stopped and called him. The hostile mob immediately changed its tune. “Go, He’s calling you,” they urged him. Bartimaeus didn’t hesitate. He was up on his feet in an instant, flinging away his cloak and stumbling towards the sound of the voice that called him. – one voice responding to the other.

He had only one request, “I want to see,” and immediately Jesus responded, “Go, your faith has healed you.” Jesus hears every cry and answers it.