Do Your Ears Hear?

"...but sometimes good men fall asleep, and are inattentive to divine things; and this is one way God takes to awaken them, to arouse their attention; he speaks to them out of a whirlwind...which fetches them out of their slumber, and so their ears are opened to hear what He says in it..." - John Gill's Exposition Of The Entire Bible

The Bible speaks much about having an "opened" ear. In spite of the fact that Jesus Himself declared in Matthew 13:16 - "But blessed are your...ears, for they hear" - there are conditions that we face as children of God when our ears can become closed to what He is saying. Is this a time for you, O Saint of God, when you know that God is trying to get your attention, but you simply cannot hear what He is saying? He may have spoken to you a thousand times - as far as what to do or where to go - yet you are not hearing it.

You are crying out to Him for answers. And, unless you are entertaining some form of sin in your life at this time, His ear is "not heavy, that it cannot hear" (Isaiah 59:1). He definitely hears the cries of the righteous, and you happen to be one of them.

So, the problem is not on God's part. It isn't that He cannot or will not hear you. The problem no doubt is with your "ears." Something has come along to close them or to impair your spiritual hearing. In Psalm 40:6, David prophetically spoke of the coming Messiah - Jesus - in saying "...mine ears hast Thou opened..." However, these were not words pertaining to the Messiah alone, but words for David and for every child of God as well.

"...mine ears hast Thou opened..." What exactly does this mean? Why did David say that God "opened" his ears? And, after doing so, what was the result? In this verse, the meaning is that God hollowed out...digged...bored... excavated...and made a passage through his ears - making it possible for David to hear what He was saying. The Lord caused him to hear truth...made him more attentive to receive the truth...opened his ears in order to make him "swift to hear" (James 1:19)...communicated the specific truth to him that He prefers obedience to sacrifice...and provoked an instant obedience in his heart along with a complete and full surrender of his soul to Him.

From this verse, we gather that there are those who have "opened" ears and those who have "closed" ears.Isaiah 48:8 describes a people who were perverse, hardened, and insensible - "Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened..." Notice how the prophet drew this conclusion by referring to the state of their "ears" - their hearing - or should we say the lack of it. These people didn't attend to the predictions, warnings, or promises of God when uttered. They were prone to disregard Him. They didn't listen to anything He had to say. Their "ear was not opened" to it.

So, from this discussion - based on the Word of God - we conclude that having an "opened ear" denotes a prompt and easy attention to what God is saying; while a "closed ear" denotes an unwillingness to listen to what is spoken by Him. But, you may be saying to yourself -"I do have a heart to obey God. I just don't know what it is that I am supposed to do in order to obey."

There is a picture drawn in the Scriptures of Isaac's wells being closed up by the Philistines. Genesis 26:18 explains - "And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them."
Somehow - perhaps while Isaac was preoccupied with mourning over his father's death - the Philistines stopped up all the wells of water which his father Abraham "had digged" and passed on to him. They definitely belonged to Isaac, but the "enemy" by some means got through to them and stopped them up.

Remember - the idea behind "opening mine ears" is the idea of excavating, digging, or hollowing out. In the Scriptures, the "Philistines" have always been a type of the "flesh." We are talking about the "flesh" as in opposition to the ways of the Spirit of God.

Could it be that - just like Isaac - through some type of circumstance (death of a loved one, setback, tragedy, sickness, disappointment, loss, misfortune, etc.), your enemy came along - taking full advantage of you while you were "weak" - and stopped up your "ears" using your "flesh" - thoughts, attitudes, impressions, or dispositions of fear, doubt, unbelief, and confusion? Now you find that you cannot hear what God is saying to you. You have no clue! When you turn to the right or to the left, all you encounter are impossibilities and silence from Heaven.

Is God speaking to you? As long as you are one of His righteous ones, yes, He is! Are you hearing what He is saying at this time? Hardly! Nonetheless, the Scriptures do tell us that the Lord is the One Who "opens the ears" to "hear."

Isaiah 50:4-5 says - "The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious..." The Lord GOD is well able to make you obediently attentive to His voice...cause you to hear most freely and receive most fully... and know what is being said and comply with it.

Job 33:14-16 says - "For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; Then He openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction." Here we see that God makes use of various ways to make known His mind and will to mankind - through dreams, visions, providence, the conscience, or even chastisements. When one way is without effect, He uses another. However, even after many attempts, the individual may still not perceive or regard it. He may still not discern it as the "voice" of God - being "deaf" to all instruction - not understanding His mind and meaning.

The Good News is that - even after many attempts - God is well able to "open the ears of men, and seal their instruction." He is well able to open the heart which - in turn - opens the ears. He removes that which stops the ears from hearing. He makes the soul to receive a deep and lasting impression of the truth - as wax upon a seal.

Yes, it is God Who "openeth the ears of men" - Who is able to remove any hindrances that the "flesh" may have caused. David said - "...mine ears hast Thou opened..." God - like Isaac - is able to "dig again" - the "wells of hearing" - making a clear passage down into the fountain of your soul.
Job 36:10 says - "He openeth also their ear to discipline..."
Job 36:15 says - "...and openeth their ears in oppression."

God is able to "awaken your ear to hear as the learned" - to prepare you to receive His divine instruction - to "hear" it attentively - to understand and remember it. He is able to "open your ears" to understand the reasons behind your circumstances or to learn the lessons intended. He is also able to cause you to understand His government - the reasons why He is visiting you in this manner or permitting things to come into your life at this time.

If you are not careful, some circumstances can cause you to become drowsy and sleepy - spiritually speaking - causing you to hear by halves or not at all. It is imperative that God allows times of "discipline" or "oppression" to wake you up out of your slumber and cause you to "hear" once again.

Are you at a place in your life where you are having difficulty "hearing" the voice of the Lord, or at least understanding His mind and will on a matter?

Is it possible that - at a time when you were very vulnerable - a "Philistine" - possibly your own "flesh" - stopped up your ears - causing you to now have problems "hearing"? You lack understanding and discernment concerning the will of God for your life. You feel the "discipline" and the "oppression," but cannot discern the lesson or purpose behind it.
David said - "...mine ears hast Thou opened."

The Prophet Isaiah said - "The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious..."
God is able to unstop your "ears." He is able to - "awaken your ears to hear as the learned."
In your moment of desperation, cry out to Him to do this! If you will, we guarantee that you will be able to boldly confess - "...mine ears hast Thou opened..." and "The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious..."Once again, "light" will flood into your soul - driving out all darkness - bringing understanding and discernment - and causing you to "hear" what God is saying to you at this hour.

May God Bless His Word,

Connie Giordano
Abiding Life Ministries
Lindale, TX
www.abidinglifeministries.org

The original title to this article was "Ears That Cannot Hear"