When Alisha wants to be deliberately annoying to either of her brothers, she’ll stick her fingers in her ears when they’re talking to her. Not only will she plug her ears, but she will also move around and talk loudly. Anything to be sure she doesn’t hear what they’re saying. It’s guaranteed to really irritate them.
The children of Israel, in their forty-year jaunt through the wilderness, experienced plugged ears way too often. Hearing or reading an account of their journey always amazes me. How could they be so blind, not to mention deaf and ungrateful?
But when I stop focusing on the children of Israel and turn my attention to modern-day people, myself included, I can see that we’re no different. This is our jaunt through life, and quite a lot of us have our ears plugged too.
Perhaps we don’t literally stick our fingers into them, but our ears are shut all too often just the same. They don’t hear what God is saying to us. Or if they hear the words, the message doesn’t move from the ear canal to the heart.
In the Gospels, I find that eight times Jesus instructed his followers by saying, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (see Matthew 11:15; 13:9, 43; Mark 4:9, 23; 7:16; Luke 8:8; 14:35). Eight times he told us to listen to what he is saying, to hear his words, and take them into our hearts and live them.
Because hearing the words is only the beginning. “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22). Having our ears plugged means our hearts are plugged too. If a heart is full of sin and uncleanness, that can be the reason the ears refuse to hear—or to comprehend what they are hearing.
If we continue to refuse to hear, what happens?
When Alisha plugs her ears and keeps them plugged long enough, Cody and Matthan give up and leave her alone. It’s no fun talking to someone who refuses to listen.
God will eventually do the same if we turn a deaf ear to his call and his invitations and his pleadings. A day will come when his voice becomes fainter, and soon we won’t hear it at all anymore, even with our ears unplugged. Then we won’t be able to hear because God will have stopped calling.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can listen to his voice and begin to respond. Each small step toward him will make the next words a little easier to hear, comprehend, and understand.
As long as we want to hear, want to know what he has to say, God will keep speaking to our heart and conscience. But he does let us decide whether to unplug our ears.
| Prayer | Reflection |
| Remind me of the ways you are speaking to me today, Lord. Help me to listen with my heart as well as my ears. | How could I unplug my ears and really listen to God’s voice today? |