Tune Up Your Ears - Listen

Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. His disciples came and asked him, "Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?" He replied, "You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. That is why I use these parables, For they look, but they don't really see. They hear, but they don't really listen or understand. This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says, 'When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes—so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.' But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn't see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn't hear it." Matthew 13:9-17

Will seeds grow among these rocks?

Are you listening? Are you seeing what the Lord is teaching? …blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear…. How often do you listen to someone and not really hear what they are saying? Do you really hear what your spouse, children or grandchildren, friends or neighbors are saying? Are you so caught up in your own thoughts or chasing rabbits that you are looking right at someone and not listening to what they are saying? That’s what Jesus must have been experiencing. He spoke to people about things they knew about—sowing seeds among rocky and good soil, or stories about sheep and shepherds. Those were things that were part of their lives—their livelihood, but they still didn’t hear and make the analogy to what He was saying. Do we make that connection today and understand what Jesus is saying to us? Not many people today have anything to do with live animals—especially sheep. Oh, they may have a dog or cat—but not a lamb. Nor do many people really sow seeds—they get their plants starts from a local nursery—if they do garden. In my neighborhood only three of nine homes around us even have gardens. Everyone just goes to the grocery store for their food. How about spiritual food? How many people do you think really get into studying the Bible for themselves—not being spoon fed by a minister on Sunday morning? How about you? Are you spoon fed or are you digging into the word—searching for Biblical truths to apply to your life yourself? 

Prayer ~ Lord, open our eyes and ears to hear what you are saying and help us to not only understand the deep meaning of Your teachings, but to apply them to our lives. As You taught Your disciples from Isaiah 6, I ask that…our hearts not be hardened, and please let our ears hear, and our eyes be opened—so that we can understand, and turn to You and You can heal us. In Your mercy Lord—may we be attentive to Your every word.

Daily Bible Reading: Matthew 13; Luke 8

© 2017 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted.

Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.