Does God hear us?

The scripture that says God hides his face from us and does not hear us when we sin. Isaiah 59 2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. -kjv 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. -niv 2 But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have made Him hide His face from you so that He does not listen. -hcsb

Hearing, Doing and Walking with God

Passages to be considered: Leviticus 8 22 And he brought the other ram, the ram of consecration: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram. 23 And he slew it; and Moses took of the blood of it, and put it upon the tip of Aaron's right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot.  -kjv 22 He then presented the other ram, the ram for the ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. 23 Moses slaughtered the ram and took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.   -niv 22 Next he presented the second ram, the ram of ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. 23 Moses slaughtered it,<a=">a</a>"> took some of its blood, and put it on Aaron’s right earlobe, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.   -hcsb Excerpts from Dr Michael Rydelnik on his blog "Learning to Love Leviticus" about above verse: Here’s one more example of the value of Leviticus for today: when the High Priest was consecrated to serve God, Moses took the ram of ordination, slaughtered it and put some of its blood on Aaron’s right earlobe, right hand, and the big toe of his right foot (Lev 8:22-23). While this might seem weird, there was a purpose. The ear represents hearing; the thumb, doing; and the toe, walking. Basically, it was saying that the High Priest was to be consecrated to serve God every day in every way. He was separated for God’s service, not just when he went into the tabernacle, but every minute of every day.

Account in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2

Passages to be considered: Genesis 1 11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day. -kjv 11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. -niv 11 Then God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” And it was so. 12 The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 Evening came and then morning: the third day.  -hcsb Genesis 2 5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.  -kjv 5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground,   -niv 5 No shrub of the field had yet grown on the land, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not made it rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground.  -hcsb Is there any contradiction when comparing Genesis 1: 11-12 and Genesis 2:5? Answer from Dr Michael Rydelnik: The allegation raised is that Genesis 2 gives a second, contradictory version of the creation account found in Genesis 1. Of course, the creation story is not contradictory but rather it becomes more and more specific. So, Genesis 1:1 gives the big general statement, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” or God made the whole universe. Then from Genesis 1:2-2:3, it gives more details, describing how God made the world in six days. In the next passage, from Gen 2:4-24, it gets even more precise, describing the events of only the 6th day of creation. But critics will object that on the third day of creation, God is said to have made vegetation, seed bearing plants and fruit bearing trees (Gen 1:11-13). But in Genesis 2:5, describing the 6th day, it says “No shrub of the field had yet grown on the land, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted . . . and there was no man to work the ground.” So what gives? The answer is fairly simple; on the third day of creation God made wild vegetation and trees, plants that renewed themselves. On the 6th day, the text says there were no shrubs of the field, which the Hebrew indicates to be a reference to troublesome plants, like weeds, thorns, and thistles — plants that would only develop after humanity’s fall. Also, there were no plants of the field, a reference to cultivated plants. These did not exist yet because man had not yet been created to work the fields. So on the 3rd day there was only uncultivated vegetation but by the time we get to the 6th day, it only says that neither weeds nor cultivated plants existed yet.  So, this major contradiction is . . . really nothing at all. The full account is found in this blog post "Answering Bible Critics" from Dr Michael Rydelnik.