Lamentations 3:8
Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
Original Language Analysis
Cross References
Historical Context
Scripture records several instances of God refusing to hear prayers. 1 Samuel 8:18 warns that when Israel demands a king and suffers under monarchy's burdens, 'the LORD will not hear you in that day.' 1 Samuel 28:6 states that God answered Saul 'neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets' after Saul's persistent disobedience. Micah 3:4 warns: 'Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them.' During Jerusalem's siege, people who had ignored Jeremiah's warnings for decades suddenly sought God desperately, but Jeremiah 11:11-12 records God's response: they will cry but He won't listen. This isn't capricious cruelty but consistent principle: those who treat God as irrelevant except in crisis shouldn't expect Him to function as emergency responder. The technical term is 'judicial hardening'—God gives people over to their chosen rebellion (Romans 1:24, 26, 28). Yet this very verse's existence in Scripture shows prayers can still be offered. The lament itself is prayer, keeping channel open even when seeming shut.
Questions for Reflection
- How does God shutting out prayer challenge popular views of prayer as automatic divine access regardless of the pray-er's life or obedience?
- What's the difference between God sovereignly delaying answers (testing faith) versus God refusing to hear (judging persistent rebellion)?
- How do James 4:3 and 1 Peter 3:7 show that effective prayer requires right relationship with God and others?
Related Resources
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Analysis & Commentary
Prayer seems futile: "Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer" (gam ki-ez'ak va'ashavea satam tefilati, גַּם כִּי־אֶזְעַק וַאֲשַׁוֵּעַ שָׂתַם תְּפִלָּתִי). The verbs za'ak (זָעַק, "cry out") and shava (שָׁוַע, "cry for help") indicate desperate pleading, yet God "shuts out" (satam, שָׂתַם) prayer. This echoes Psalm 88:14: "LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?" And Jeremiah 11:11, 14: God refuses to hear Judah's crisis prayers after years of ignoring Him. The image is of a door shut, a barrier blocking access. This terrifies because prayer is the believer's lifeline. Yet the shutting isn't arbitrary—it follows persistent covenant breaking. Proverbs 1:24-28 warns: "Because I have called, and ye refused...then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer." Isaiah 1:15: "when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood." God's refusal to hear isn't contradiction of His promise to answer prayer, but temporal judgment teaching that presuming on access while living in rebellion is impossible.