Back to the Psalms and our reading plan, I’ve been meditating on an image from Psalm 58 that I can’t get out of my mind:

The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; They are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear, Which will not heed the voice of charmers, Charming ever so skillfully. (Psalm 58.3 – 5, NKJV)

Like a deaf cobra…

That’s a great picture. The charmer may be fantastic, but his flute can’t charm a deaf cobra.

So many applications…

He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ” (Luke 16.31, ESV)

The word is there, but the unbelievers are deaf.

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4.3 – 6, ESV)

The light is there, but the unbelievers are blind.

I wonder if the deaf cobra metaphor also applies to the message of relational disciple-making. It doesn’t matter how skillfully I present the message if the pastors and church leaders are deaf to it.

Compare also the parable of the sower. It doesn’t matter how good the seed is if the environment isn’t right. Hard soil is like a deaf cobra.

Or maybe it applies to the average church member, deaf to what the church is trying to help them do. I wrote Saturday about communicating real expectations. However, we can’t expect that any efforts will reach ALL the people… Just the remnant, maybe. Some people are like deaf cobras.

And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” (Isaiah 6.9, 10, ESV)