If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear . . . Mark 4:23-24a
Did you hear me? How often I said that to my child. Selected deafness. I could whisper, “Wanna go get ice cream?” and he’d hear it two rooms away. But I could stand within arm’s reach and tell him to clean his room or pickup his toys. “Huh?” As a teenage I’d ask him to mow the lawn before it was to rain on Friday. Patiently I’d wait for the sound of the motor. Nada. The only sound would be thunder on Friday morning. “When did you tell me to do that?”
Did you hear me? Futile to have a conversation with the hubby over the roar of the TV. In one ear and out the other. “Why didn’t you tell me you had a meeting and wouldn’t be home ’til 8pm. I was worried about you.” “I did. Three nights ago.” “When? I didn’t hear you.” Thank you Lord for email and texting. You don’t have to hear that and you have written proof!
Did you hear me? I poured my heart out to a friend, but her mind was to full of her own problems. It was like talking to a brick wall, or rather bumping into it. I know she didn’t mean to hurt my feelings, but she did. I really needed someone to listen. But then again, maybe so did she.
Did you hear me? In a meeting I objected to the course of action. I was certain that was not the direction God wanted us to go. But my voice was drowned out by “But we’ve always done it that way”. Besides, I was not an officer, so I had no voice in the matter. It all fell apart and went totally wrong. If only they had listened?
God often wants us to listen, but do we? He wants us to hear Him through the din of human life. But do we hear? Or are we so caught up in our own agendas, in the distractions around us or in set ways of doing things that His voice gets drowned out by the hum of the crowd. Just as it is hard to hear conversations next to you in a room full of people talking, our ears can become too stuffed with other meaningless sounds.
Perhaps that is why the Bible is so important to read regularly. There it is – His still small voice screaming through the pages. I love. I forgive. I restore. Written proof. May we listen with our heart, and our souls and lean not on our own understanding, but that of the Spirit within us. Can you hear Him?
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. (vs 33)
