Are You Listening?

Have you ever found yourself in a place where your heart cannot hear? I know it sounds weird but hear me out. The place I’m talking about is where you can hear with your ears and you understand intellectually but you don’t feel it in your heart. And for whatever reason (and there are many) what you hear doesn’t make it to your heart. You listen to advice, you know what you should do, you are in tune to how you should react or proceed but you can’t because what is in your heart overrides what you know to be true. That is why it is so important as the Bible says:

Proverbs 4:23 NIV

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

So if your heart is not right nothing will be right. Many times in the Bible Jesus and others say “whoever has ears let them hear”. This is continuously emphasized. If you are hearing the Word spoken or reading the Word it stands to reason that you are hearing it, right? Well, not necessarily. I am sure we have all experienced times where we have heard something to be true but we are in such a state that we say “I know but……!” So “whoever has ears let them hear” must have been emphasized because of a heart condition. It’s not about our physical hearing, it’s about whether or not our heart is in a condition to receive what He is saying, the truth. So if your heart is in good condition you will have the ear to hear the warnings given by God to avoid pitfalls, the guidance to get out of one you have already fallen into or the instruction that provides wisdom for both.

Today we have so many distractions, problems or issues to keep our hearts confused and shut off from the truth. The truth about many things. A hardened heart is a dangerous heart. A hardened heart is selfish and rejects truth. A hardened heart has its on agenda and it’s agenda is the only one that truly matters. A hardened heart can hide but God knows. Sometimes we have to just stop and ask Jesus to help us hear.