After making deeply spiritual statements, Jesus sometimes added, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear”. (Matthew 11:15) There is a big difference between hearing and actually listening. Jesus spoke in parables to reveal truth to those who wanted to understand, and to conceal it from those who were merely curious. Sometimes even his disciples didn’t understand. Or didn’t want to know.
“Let these words sink down into your ears”, Jesus instructed them, and then said that he was about to be betrayed. “But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.” (Luke 9:44,45)
Hearing and not understanding is not just a Bible problem: people still hear through their prejudices; and the difference between what is said and what is heard is often surprising. Then there’s selective hearing. Children have it: they can play computer games and listen to music on headsets while doing homework. But ask them to tidy their rooms and they’ll later say, plaintively, “But I never heard you!” Husbands, too, have selective hearing, but we won’t go into that.
In the Book of Revelation, Jesus says repeatedly, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” “An ear” is even more suggestive than “ears to hear”. It suggests very selective hearing. It also tells us that the Spirit of God has different messages for different churches; and that we need to fine-tune our ears to hear them.
Remember Elijah in the mountain cave? Lashed by wind, singed by fire, shaken by earthquake, the mountain reeled. In the stillness that followed, the prophet heard the voice of God in “a whisper of a whisper” – like the soft rustling of autumn leaves in a gentle breeze. The Spirit of God most often speaks that way.
What is the Spirit saying to your church? What is he saying to you, personally? He doesn’t just speak through the preacher, or through the lyrics of Christian songs. He may speak to you at the kitchen sink, while you are shopping at the supermarket, or driving in peak-hour traffic.
He speaks to every Christian. He is speaking to you now. If you want to hear him, switch off the noise around you, tune in to the voice of God, and simply listen.