Spiritual Word-Vomit: When Our Words Make God Weary

I love to talk to anything that will listen. One of the reasons I fell in love with my husband is that he is an amazing listener and fellow communicator. But at some point, long before me, he reaches his word limit. When we first got married, he’d just bang his head against the wall or put in earphones. Now I catch on to the more subtle signals he needs a word-break.

When you’re the only one talking, it stops being a conversation. When you continue to pour words over someone who is long past listening to you, it’s called word vomit.

I recently came across a passage of scripture that stopped me cold. Malachi tells the people of God, “You have wearied the Lord with your words.” 

When you talk to God and about God, but you blatantly don’t listen to him and do what he says; it’s like word-vomitting to God.

Micah offers us two ways our words weary the Lord: 

1. When we pervert the LOVE of God.
   Malachi 2:17 says But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.”
   Specifically here, the spiritual leaders declare that God is delighted with people who do evil. Pure word vomit. We live in a day when many in the church look at those who practice all kinds of evil and say “God delights in you.” God is defintiely a God of love, but that love comes to us through the cross of Jesus.  His love always conforms us to His Son.
2. When we pervert the JUSTICE of God.
   When we continue in sin, then question God about his fairness, it’s wearisome to the Lord. On the cross, we see the absolute justice of God in punishing His son for our sin. This is perfect love and justice. We can’t ignore the Word of God, then accuse His justice. 

When I read this passage I was moved to repent of the times I have wearied God with my own words. I need a daily habit of this. Our only hope is the cross of Jesus. I’m so thankful that we have a God who cares that the condition of our heart and lives match up to our words. In Christ, he is making that unity happen in us more and more each day.