There are things that go bump in the night.
The Setting
I just returned from a trip to Colorado. It’s an annual sabbatical to write, study, and fly fish. It’s about silence, solitude, and hearing God’s voice. Friends arrange places for me to stay. Sometimes it’s with them and sometimes I stay in their cabins when they are gone.
Bumps In The Night
On one occasion, while alone, I heard a strange sound. It was footsteps. Twice I jumped up, certain there was someone behind me. There wasn’t. I never figured out the sound. The house wasn’t haunted, or have a mysterious guest. But after the first time, I was on high alert. I had ears to hear.
Jesus Said It
Mark 4:9, “Then Jesus said, ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear.’”
A few verses later:
Mark 4:23, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
It was important to Jesus to be heard. But not everyone was hearing.
The Old Testament
What Jesus said about hearing came from the Psalms/Prophets.
- Psalm 135:16-17, “They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear…”
- Isaiah 6:9-10, “He said, ‘Go and tell this people,’ “Be ever hearing, but never understanding…
- Isaiah 43:8, “Lead out those who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf.”
Isaiah had trouble getting people to hear God’s word, at times, so did Jesus. Some had hard hearts, they didn’t want to hear.
When Jesus taught about hearing the word, he used the Psalms and Prophets to do so. In fact, everything he said came from the Old Testament. Which was useful since everyone he taught had a solid understanding of it.
The Holy Scripture: It’s one message.
To Close
Bumps in the night and strange sounds get our attention. But when we figure out the wind is blowing branches across a window, or the ice maker is just dumping its ice, we ignore it, it’s no big deal.
Is that how it is with God’s word? It’s no big deal?
Just a thought.
