A Nugget from New Life Network
Scripture for the Day (November 5, 2015)
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Matthew 11:15)
Over the last few weeks we have written devotionals on 19 of the 38 parables of Jesus. We are at the halfway point so let’s do a little review of what Jesus told His disciples of why He taught in parables:
This is why I speak to them in parables: Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused (hardened); they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them”. But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly I tell you. many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. (Matthew 13:13-17, NIV)
In reviewing the parables and teachings of Jesus it is not uncommon to see them followed by, “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 13:9). That started me on a study of the word “hear” which was very enlightening. The Hebrew word for hear is “shama” which means to hear intelligently with an implication of obedience. The Greek word for hear is “akouo” which means to hear, hearken, yield to or hear and obey. The hearing that Jesus is referring to is deeper than just a physical hearing. It carries with it an implication of doing what has been heard.
How many of you remember the voice of your mom or dad saying something like this? “Young man (or young lady), did you hear me? Yes mom! Well, you must not have heard me because I don’t see you doing what I told you”. Your parent’s instructions carried with it the implication that you needed to not just hear what was said but do it, and promptly. That is the same implication when Jesus says. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear”.
One of my favorite scriptures is in Romans 10:17 which says, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”. Think about this scripture in the light of the definition of hearing that I just shared with you. This scripture takes on an expanded nature when action and obedience is implied.
Several times in these devotionals we have mentioned that you will never really know the Word unless you do it. That is why James tells us in James 1:22 that we are to be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving our own selves. You and I have been given a very precious gift, the Word of God. We have much more information than the disciples of the New Testament had. We really have no excuse. We do however have a choice. We can ignore it, or we can do it. As for me and my house, we choose to do it. We encourage all of you to be hearers and doers of the Word.
Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. (Proverbs 8:34)
Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. (Proverbs 22:17)
For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. (Romans 2:13)
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. (Revelation 1:3)
If any man have an ear, let him hear. (Revelation 13:9)
