Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.

(Matthew 11:15 NIV)

Brandon, a curious four-year-old who lived in the South, asked his mother why all their relatives from Wisconsin “talk funny.”  She explained, “Well, everybody talks in different ways.  To them, we talk funny.  They think we talk very slow and all our words are d-r-a-w-n out.”

His eyes got big, and he whispered seriously, “Oh, no. You mean they hear funny too?” 

That obviously wasn’t true of Brandon’s relatives — but it could be true of us. What if we’re the ones who aren’t hearing things quite right?  Not when it comes to people’s accents, but when it comes to something far more important – God’s truth.

In Matthew 11, Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”  It’s a phrase he repeated often — not because people couldn’t hear, but because they weren’t really listening.  And there’s a big difference.  Everyone has ears, but not everyone is paying attention. People often heard Jesus’ words, but they missed the meaning.

Spiritual hearing means paying attention to what God says, even when it’s challenging or uncomfortable.  It’s about being open to his truth, especially when it stretches or corrects what we’ve always believed.

The truth is, we all have filters that shape how we listen. Things like how we grew up, our past experiences, or just the busyness of life can all affect our ability to hear God clearly.  Sometimes it’s our pride — we’re so confident that we’re right, we don’t even consider that God might be trying to teach us something new.  As a result, we might be hearing “funny” without even realizing it.

Jesus calls us to do more than just hear — he wants us to listen with our hearts. To be like the good soil in his parables: soft enough for his words to take root, grow, and bear fruit in our lives.

So, take a moment to pause and reflect.  To ask, “Lord, am I really hearing you clearly?”  Because maybe the problem isn’t that God isn’t speaking loudly enough… maybe we just need to listen better.

Prayer: Lord, give me ears to truly hear.  Help me listen to your voice above all the others — and to recognize when my own hearing might be off.  Make me teachable, humble, and always ready to hear what you have to say. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Alan Smith
Reprinted with permission from Alan Smith’s Thought For the Day