Whether they hear or not

“As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears. And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.” - Ezekiel 3v9-11

Ezekiel could not say that God did not warn him about the task that lay ahead of him. He knew that he was going to a stubborn, or a “stiff-necked” people. But, God gave him some encouragement – in a sense he said “I am going to make you even more stubborn than they are. We use the term “hard-nosed,” but the Bible uses a different term – “ forehead like flint.”

With this forehead like flint Ezekiel was simply told to go and preach, whether they hear you or not. The same task is ours – we are not responsible for how they respond, we are only responsible for doing what God tells us to do. As we do so, we had better go prepared with “foreheads harder than flint” because the job may no be easy!