-Ears to Hear-

Gotta tell you, my ears have never been a point of pride. Strong winds concern me, lest I take flight! I am thankful, however, I can hear. As a child, both eardrums perforated at least once apiece. Man, if it’s never happened to you, count yourself blessed! First year I was alive my ears drained & were infected constantly (long before tubes were common place) & my Mom had to hold me up at night. As a boy, one winter an eardrum burst at deer camp. PAIN! A little old, well-meaning lady had some kind of ‘hoo-doo’ concoction of aspirin, milk, & I don’t even want to know what else, & poured it down my ear. When I COULD hear again, it was my ENT doc cussing as he dredged out the putrid mess! A couple of times I lost hearing for a time at least in one ear, so, yeah, I’m really thankful it returned & I can hear! Hearing is pretty special…especially to a music guy!

This past couple of weeks my ear has been bothering me & it brought back those memories. It also brought to mind a saying Jesus had when He told parables: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” That sounds odd, but when you think about it, or listen to it, it makes a lot of sense. We may hear something, but not really listen much. Case in point: when you were a teen your Mom, Dad, teacher, etc. probably lectured you about something. While you heard them, it was probably like the Peanuts cartoon that really sounded like: “Whopple, whopple, whopp, whopp, whopp.” Just so much noise or gibberish.

I’ve gotta be honest with you, God has tried to speak to me many times through my life & I paid about as much attention as a teen who couldn’t care less about a parent’s lecture. He loves me enough that He has nudged me & caught my attention. Several times it was a bout of physical ear trouble that reminded me that I was having spiritual hearing problems.

Jesus gave the harsh rebuke: ‘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.’ Matthew 13:14-15 NLT

While I care about my physical hearing, I care about my spiritual ears. I want to hear from God. I want to listen to what He has to say. Sad it takes a bit of ear trouble to remind me how important hearing with my heart is! I want to be like Jesus followers when He told them:
“Blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because
they hear.” Matthew 13: 16 NLT

How are your ears? Any trouble hearing? What about your heart? Any trouble listening? May we both have ‘ears to hear’ what God has to say.

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