The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge. The ears of the wise seek it out. ~Proverbs 18:15
The disciples came to Him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven have been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 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 hearing but never understanding. You will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused. 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.’ (referring to Isaiah 6:9-11) But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” ~Matthew 13:10-17
Do you happen to own Bluetooth capable devices? They are great for going wireless, but they always need to be paired with each other, sender and receiver, for them to work. The wise are only discerning by being paired with God, the sender of Truth. Without that “pairing” knowledge won’t be heard. Jesus was sending out a clear signal, but the religious leaders, the ones we, and they, assumed would be the best equipped and programmed to receive His message, just weren’t getting it. They were missing the signal, and what they thought they were hearing was only making them angry.
In the old days, (grin) the best analogy was radio. We would say, Jesus was transmitting on AM frequencies, the waves of the commoner, talk radio and news, with lots of static. The religious only had sophisticated FM receivers and couldn’t hear His words. The Pharisees might think, “Messiah wouldn’t be a talk show host, surely not!”
“The disciples came to Him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people 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.” Why would Jesus do this? Surely, He would want everyone to understand what He was saying! He knew that the religious leaders had put up blockers to His signals, by moving to an FM signal through all of their extra laws and traditions that the common people could not keep up with.
If the people wanted to know God, they had to go to the leaders and obey what the leaders told them, which they claimed was from God’s Law. The people had to accept what they were told without question because they thought that they didn’t have the right kind of receiver to hear from God directly.
It's interesting to note that this practice eventually reared its ugly head in the Church, after Christ. As the Church grew and became more layered, the same thing happened again, with study of God’s Word being restricted to the priests and the highly educated. Commoners in the church of the middle ages were in the same predicament as the commoners that Jesus was addressing during His walk on earth. When Luther brought about the Reformation, He translated God’s Word into German, the common language of his own people. He also promoted the Biblical concept of the “Priesthood of all believers.”
As a former monk, Luther came from an FM school of thought. But when he began broadcasting in AM God moved the people because they heard and understood the Bible as the very word of God, not just what the priests said about it! Now everyone could hear and know for themselves what God’s Word and Law truly were. “The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge.”
All that is needed is for you to have a heart that wants to know the amazing things that God wants to show you. The Lord has said: “Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” (Jeremiah 33:3) “The ears of the wise seek it out.” “The sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the Word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught. The sovereign Lord has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious, I have not drawn back.” (Isaiah 50:4-5)
This is why blue tooth “pairing” is a better analogy. We are one in Christ. The Holy Spirit connects us directly to God. Jesus said, “My sheep know my voice.” The only “voice” a blue tooth speaker can hear is the source it is paired with. We all are able to be equipped to hear God’s voice and to learn what the Lord wants to tell us. His message isn’t restricted to the highly educated or to Pastors, or any other restrictive category you can think of. His Word is for everyone.
When Paul planted churches, he sought out people who would listen, no matter what their age or walk in life. God’s Words of wisdom are meant for all. When Jesus quoted Isaiah, who had lived seven hundred years before, He was expressing a frustration that He had had with the leadership for a long time. They knew the laws, but they didn’t follow them. They didn’t seek to understand God’s heart just His laws, so they were, “ever seeing but never perceiving,” and “ever hearing, but never understanding.” This is because in thinking that they knew God’s Word, they set themselves up as transmitters instead of receivers paired with Jesus the real source of knowledge.
If someone attends a worship service today, but does not pay attention, they are hearing noise, but not hearing the message that could bless them. If we do anything, do devotions, pray before a meal, attend a service or Bible study just to show value for religious traditions, but do not really hear and meditate on what we are listening to or reading, we are behaving like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. We even start to think we know enough about it to set ourselves up as transmitters and tell other people why they need to be more like us, and justify ourselves for not loving them more graciously!
We need to do the pairing first. And really, the Holy Spirit starts the process, does the pairing, when He finds a receptive heart. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. You will also be paired with Him, one in Christ, to really be able to learn true knowledge. That will bring the message in loud and clear for our souls, and will shape our character to love like Christ.
Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for pairing me up with You! I couldn’t tune You in in my own. You had to reach out to me when I cried for help. Thank You! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Song: Word of God Speak
The disciples came to Him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven have been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 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 hearing but never understanding. You will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused. 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.’ (referring to Isaiah 6:9-11) But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” ~Matthew 13:10-17
Do you happen to own Bluetooth capable devices? They are great for going wireless, but they always need to be paired with each other, sender and receiver, for them to work. The wise are only discerning by being paired with God, the sender of Truth. Without that “pairing” knowledge won’t be heard. Jesus was sending out a clear signal, but the religious leaders, the ones we, and they, assumed would be the best equipped and programmed to receive His message, just weren’t getting it. They were missing the signal, and what they thought they were hearing was only making them angry.
In the old days, (grin) the best analogy was radio. We would say, Jesus was transmitting on AM frequencies, the waves of the commoner, talk radio and news, with lots of static. The religious only had sophisticated FM receivers and couldn’t hear His words. The Pharisees might think, “Messiah wouldn’t be a talk show host, surely not!”
“The disciples came to Him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people 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.” Why would Jesus do this? Surely, He would want everyone to understand what He was saying! He knew that the religious leaders had put up blockers to His signals, by moving to an FM signal through all of their extra laws and traditions that the common people could not keep up with.
If the people wanted to know God, they had to go to the leaders and obey what the leaders told them, which they claimed was from God’s Law. The people had to accept what they were told without question because they thought that they didn’t have the right kind of receiver to hear from God directly.
It's interesting to note that this practice eventually reared its ugly head in the Church, after Christ. As the Church grew and became more layered, the same thing happened again, with study of God’s Word being restricted to the priests and the highly educated. Commoners in the church of the middle ages were in the same predicament as the commoners that Jesus was addressing during His walk on earth. When Luther brought about the Reformation, He translated God’s Word into German, the common language of his own people. He also promoted the Biblical concept of the “Priesthood of all believers.”
As a former monk, Luther came from an FM school of thought. But when he began broadcasting in AM God moved the people because they heard and understood the Bible as the very word of God, not just what the priests said about it! Now everyone could hear and know for themselves what God’s Word and Law truly were. “The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge.”
All that is needed is for you to have a heart that wants to know the amazing things that God wants to show you. The Lord has said: “Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” (Jeremiah 33:3) “The ears of the wise seek it out.” “The sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the Word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught. The sovereign Lord has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious, I have not drawn back.” (Isaiah 50:4-5)
This is why blue tooth “pairing” is a better analogy. We are one in Christ. The Holy Spirit connects us directly to God. Jesus said, “My sheep know my voice.” The only “voice” a blue tooth speaker can hear is the source it is paired with. We all are able to be equipped to hear God’s voice and to learn what the Lord wants to tell us. His message isn’t restricted to the highly educated or to Pastors, or any other restrictive category you can think of. His Word is for everyone.
When Paul planted churches, he sought out people who would listen, no matter what their age or walk in life. God’s Words of wisdom are meant for all. When Jesus quoted Isaiah, who had lived seven hundred years before, He was expressing a frustration that He had had with the leadership for a long time. They knew the laws, but they didn’t follow them. They didn’t seek to understand God’s heart just His laws, so they were, “ever seeing but never perceiving,” and “ever hearing, but never understanding.” This is because in thinking that they knew God’s Word, they set themselves up as transmitters instead of receivers paired with Jesus the real source of knowledge.
If someone attends a worship service today, but does not pay attention, they are hearing noise, but not hearing the message that could bless them. If we do anything, do devotions, pray before a meal, attend a service or Bible study just to show value for religious traditions, but do not really hear and meditate on what we are listening to or reading, we are behaving like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. We even start to think we know enough about it to set ourselves up as transmitters and tell other people why they need to be more like us, and justify ourselves for not loving them more graciously!
We need to do the pairing first. And really, the Holy Spirit starts the process, does the pairing, when He finds a receptive heart. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. You will also be paired with Him, one in Christ, to really be able to learn true knowledge. That will bring the message in loud and clear for our souls, and will shape our character to love like Christ.
Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for pairing me up with You! I couldn’t tune You in in my own. You had to reach out to me when I cried for help. Thank You! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Song: Word of God Speak
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