INTRODUCTION
The Gospels do indeed tell us that the fullness of some of the
"mysteries" of the Kingdom were not to be understood
until the advent of the Holy Spirit:
UNWILLINGNESS TO UNDERSTAND
Yet He often had to rebuke His own disciples for a lack of understanding
of what they had heard Him say and seen Him do:
SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS
Notice what He explained in regard to the seed that fell by the
wayside:
The heart that resists the witness of God goes astray, and can
end up testing God:
Christ did expect His disciples to understand His parables:
WILLING HEARTS AND THINKING MINDS
Christ expected repentance from those to whom He witnessed:
ALL ACCOUNTABLE
Along with a suspension of our thinking processes, part of the
legacy from our past experience in the so-called churches of God
have been notions imparted to us of people somehow being less
accountable because of some sort of spiritual blindness foisted
upon them by God Himself or ideas that have God randomly blinding
people to His truth in accordance with His timetable for the salvation
of all mankind. The example of Israel is often cited to confirm
this belief:
Dt 29:2-4 Now Moses called all Israel and said to them:
"You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in
the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all
his land; 3 the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs,
and those great wonders. 4 Yet the LORD has not given you
a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this
very day."
The apostle Paul quoted from verse 4 of this chapter, and did
indeed apply it to an Israel described as hardened, or blinded:
Ro 11:7-8 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks;
but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. 8
Just as it is written: "God has given them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear,
to this very day."
Were Moses and Paul therefore saying that God was unwilling to
grant Israel a heart that could see spiritually? Are people hardened
or blinded by God so as not to be able to understand and accept
His truth?
Lk 9:45 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.
And it is also true that Satan, the god of this world, blinds
the minds of those who do not believe (2Co 4:4).
Jn 13:6-7 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said
to Him, "Lord, are You washing my feet?" 7 Jesus answered
and said to him, "What I am doing you do not understand now,
but you will know after this."
But what is the nature of the spiritual blindness that prevents
people who are witness in word or in deed to the truth of God
from accepting it-and can we also be affected?
Christ many times admonished the multitudes to whom He spoke to
both hear and understand:
Mt 15:10 When He had called the multitude to Himself,
He said to them, "Hear and understand".
Since Christ was not one to use words superfluously, we must assume
that He expected them to be able to do both.
Mk 7:14 When He had called all the multitude to Himself,
He said to them, "Hear Me, everyone, and understand".
Mk 8:14-21 Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread,
and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat.
15 Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the
leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." 16 And
they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we
have no bread." 17 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to
them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you
not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened?
18 Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear?
And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for
the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you
take up?" They said to Him, "Twelve." 20 "Also,
when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets
full of fragments did you take up?" And they said, "Seven."
21 So He said to them, "How is it you do not understand?"
Christ's final question implies that there was no reason in His
eyes why His disciples, by applying correct reasoning, should
not have been able to consider the implications of the miracle
they had just seen to reach the conclusions He expected them to
reach.
Mk 6:51-2 Then He went up into the boat to them [His disciples],
and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves
beyond measure, and marveled. 52 For they had not understood
about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.
Mark is here telling us that the disciples' astonishment at Christ's
ability to calm the storm, though natural, was nonetheless blameworthy,
in that having just previously witnessed Jesus' multiplication
of the loaves, they should have been much more conscious of the
divine power with which He was endowed. Perhaps a degree of skepticism,
of fatal familiarity, had set in. This can happen to us all. Spiritual
blindness caused by the hardening of the human heart can affect
everyone, as we shall see.
Christ spoke of people who would see but not perceive the mysteries
of the Kingdom, who would hear the truths of God but fail to understand
them:
Mk 4:9-12 And He said to them [the crowds who were listening
to His teaching], "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"
10 But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked
Him about the parable. 11 And He said to them, "To you it
has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but
to those who are outside, all things come in parables, 12 so
that 'Seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may
hear and not understand; lest they should turn, and their sins
be forgiven them.'"
Christ applied these words, taken from Isa 6:9-10, to those "outside"
the Kingdom of God who are indeed described as blinded and without
understanding.
The prophet Isaiah, in these two verses, did speak of people's
hearts as being made dull and of their eyes as being shut:
Isa 6:9-10 And He said, "Go, and tell this people:
'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do
not perceive.' 10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their
ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and
return and be healed."
Christ stated that His parable of the sower and the seed was for
those who had "ears to hear". When He told His disciples
that it was "given" to them to understand, but to the
multitudes "outside" it was not so given, did He mean
that this blindness, this failure of the many to understand, was
in fact a blindness sent from God?
Mk 4:15 "And these are the ones by the wayside where
the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and
takes away the word that was sown in their hearts."
The seed of God's truth is actually sown in the heart of the person
who hears the words of God, but the Devil is allowed to snatch
it away. In Matthew's account of this parable, Christ confirmed
that this happens because of a lack of understanding:
Mt 13:19 "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom,
and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches
away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed
by the wayside."
Again referring back to the prophet Isaiah, Christ further revealed
that this blindness is as a result of an unwillingness
to understand.
Jn 12:37-40 But although He had done so many signs before
them [the Jews in general], they did not believe in Him [NIV:
"would not believe in Him"], 38 that the word of Isaiah
the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: "Lord, who
has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been
revealed?" 39 Therefore they could not believe, because
Isaiah said again: 40 "He has blinded their eyes and hardened
their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they
should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should
heal them."
Christ compared Himself to a light that had come into a world
of darkness to illuminate men (v 46), to enlighten them to the
truth of God. He was "the Arm of the Lord" whose message,
through the many miraculous signs that were done by Him, Israel
should have believed. That the Jews "could not believe"
was a statement of God's foreknowledge, not a statement of their
lack of choice. All men have the choice, when confronted with
the light of God's truth, to accept or to reject it. The Jews
who chose to do the latter revealed by their actions that they
hated the light, and so exposed the hardness of their hearts:
Jn 3:19-21 "And this is the condemnation, that the
light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than
light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing
evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his
deeds should be exposed.21 But he who does the truth comes to
the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have
been done in God."
Jeremiah used similar language to Isaiah, and ascribed the spiritual
blindness of his people to sin and a rebellious heart:
Jer 5:21-5 Hear this now, O foolish people, without understanding,
who have eyes and see not, and who have ears and hear not: 22
Do you not fear Me?' says the LORD. 'Will you not tremble at
My presence, who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea,
by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it? And though
its waves toss to and fro, yet they cannot prevail; though they
roar, yet they cannot pass over it. 23 But this people has a
defiant and rebellious heart; they have revolted and departed.
24 They do not say in their heart, "Let us now fear the
LORD our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter,
in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest."
25 Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins
have withheld good from you.
The apostle Paul also quoted the words of Isa 6:9-10, in a context
which leaves no doubt that this failure to understand the truth
of God when exposed to it is a consequence of disbelief, of a
heart unwilling to embrace the words of God:
Acts 28:24-8 And some [of the Jews] were persuaded by
the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved. 25 So when
they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul
had said one word: "The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through
Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, 26 "saying, 'Go to this
people and say: "Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand;
and seeing you will see, and not perceive; 27 For the hearts
of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing,
and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their
eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with
their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them."' 28
"Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God
has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!"
These Jews whom Paul addressed, just like the Israelites of old
who had the Gospel preached to them, made the decision not to
believe, not to exercise faith:
Heb 4:2 For indeed the Gospel was preached to us as well
as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them,
not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
The Scriptures do therefore describe the decision of people to
reject what they hear from God as a blindness coming from God,
in the sense that nothing happens without His will. It is, however,
a blindness brought about by a lack of faith and by sin:
Isa 29:9-14 Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be
blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not
with intoxicating drink. 10 For the LORD has poured out on you
the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, namely, the
prophets; and He has covered your heads, namely, the seers. 11
The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that
is sealed, which men deliver to one who is literate, saying, "Read
this, please." And he says, "I cannot, for it is sealed."
12 Then the book is delivered to one who is illiterate, saying,
"Read this, please." And he says, "I am not literate."
13 Therefore the LORD said: "Inasmuch as these people draw
near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have
removed their hearts [a choice they made] far from
Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men."
We need to realize that this is the true nature of the spiritual
blindness of Israel to which the apostle Paul refers several times
in his epistles:
Ro 11:7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks;
but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
This spiritual blindness is the result of the unwillingness to
use the God-given powers of reasoning and logic when confronted
with the testimony of God. It is epitomized in the idolater, but
the mental processes involved are a warning for all of us:
2Co 3:14 But their minds were blinded. For until
this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the
Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.
Isa 44:17-19 (NRSV) The rest of it [the tree] he makes
into a god, his idol, bows down to it and worships it; he prays
to it and says, "Save me, for you are my god!" 18 They
do not know, nor do they comprehend; for their eyes are shut
[but it is they who have shut them!], so that they
cannot see, and their minds as well, so that [it is as
though] they cannot understand. 19 No one considers,
nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, "Half
of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals, I
roasted meat and have eaten. Now shall I make the rest of it an
abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?"
In fact, in this same chapter of Isaiah, this state of spiritual
blindness is prophesized to continue; it is also the grounds for
God's judgement:
Isa 6:10-12 Make the heart of this people dull, and their
ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and
return and be healed." 11 Then I said, "Lord, how long?"
And He answered: "Until the cities are laid waste and without
inhabitant, the houses are without a man, the land is utterly
desolate, 12 The LORD has removed men far away, and the forsaken
places are many in the midst of the land."
The apostle Paul also re-echoes this:
Ro 11:8-10 Just as it is written: "God has given
them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears
that they should not hear, to this very day." 9 And David
says: "Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling
block and a recompense to them. 10 Let their eyes be darkened,
so that they do not see, and bow down their back always."
THE HARDENING OF THE HEART
Picking up on the theme the hardening of the heart, the author
of the Book of Hebrews specifically links a such a hardened heart
with unbelief:
Heb 3:7-11,19 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today,
if you will hear His voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in
the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 where
your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years.
10 Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, 'They
always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.'
11 So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'"
This is accompanied with an exhortation to spiritual Israel, the
Church of God today, to ensure that they have hearts that are
not hardened through unbelief:
19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Heb 3:12-15 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of
you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living
God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today,"
lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning
of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said:
"Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts
as in the rebellion."
So the truth of the Scriptures is that man hardens his own
heart. We can therefore reconcile the accounts in the Book
of Exodus which have God hardening Pharaoh's heart as well as
Pharaoh hardening his own heart:
Ex 8:15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he
hardened his heart and did not heed them, as the LORD had said.
(See also Ex 8:32; 9:12,34; 10:1,20,27; 11:10; 14:8)
Ex 9:12 But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh; and
he did not heed them, just as the LORD had spoken to Moses.
The reality was that the heart of the Egyptian king was hardened
against the God of Israel:
Ex 7:14 So the LORD said to Moses: "Pharaoh's heart
is hard; he refuses to let the people go."
God merely confirms the condition of such a heart and what happens
to it if it continues to refuse to acknowledge Him or to heed
the godly witness before it: darkness and further alienation from
God ensue:
Ro 1:21 because, although they [speaking of man in
general, who has no excuse for not glorifying God (v 20)]
knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful,
but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts
were darkened.
Let us notice Ro 9:18:
Ro 9:18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom
He wills He hardens.
Just as God is not arbitrary in His mercy, but exercises it when
it is sought, and desires all to come to repentance (2Pe 3:9),
so neither does He arbitrarily harden anyone's heart. When His
overtures to an individual are ignored or rejected, He permits
the individual to be hardened, just as He so permitted Pharaoh,
or the Jews of Christ's time, or Israel of old. In verses 30-32
of this same chapter of Romans, the apostle Paul attributes God's
rejection of Israel to their unbelief, not to any deliberate
blindness expressly sent by God.
Ps 95:8-10 Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,
as in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers
tested Me; they tried Me, though they saw My work. 10 For forty
years I was grieved with that generation, and said, 'It is a people
who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways.'
This heart can be "lifted up" to forget God:
Dt 8:14 when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the
LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the
house of bondage...
This happened to king Nebuchadnezzar, who rejected the testimony
of the true God he had witnessed through the prophet Daniel and
instead allowed pride to override reason and logic:
Dan 5:20 But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit
was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne,
and they took his glory from him.
THE PARABLES OF CHRIST
In regard to this subject of spiritual blindness, what false notions
about Christ's use of parables do we retain in our thinking because
of past teachings?
Mk 4:13 And He said to them, "Do you not understand
this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?"
To the general populace, however, He adapted His parables and
teaching according to the degree of receptivity of His hearers,
so that through the parables some truth from His Father might
be understood and people drawn to Himself:
Mk 4:33-4 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word
to them, as much as they could understand. 34 He did not
say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was
alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
Like the ministry of Isaiah, Christ's ministry would expose the
resistance of the hearts of people to the truths of God. Their
failure to understand the essentials tenets of the Way of God
was the result of decisions made by them, not of a willful blinding
from God. Christ spoke in parables to the multitudes He taught
not, as we have often been asked to believe, to keep them blinded
to the truth, but to test the spiritual responsiveness of His
hearers. Those who were provoked by them into intensive reflection
could then proceed to obtain further enlightenment about the mysteries
of the Kingdom by, for instance, asking Jesus their meaning, as
the disciples did. Those who omitted to reflect on them would
indeed, as Isa 6:9-10 states, be ever seeing but never perceiving:
they would understand the literal meaning of the words, but not
the parables' deeper significance: the introduction to the Kingdom
of God which they provided.
This is further amplified in Christ's parable of the lamp on a
stand:
Mk 4:21-5 Also He said to them, "Is a lamp brought
to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on
a lampstand? 22 For there is nothing hidden which will not be
revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should
come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."
24 Then He said to them, "Take heed what you hear. With
the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you
who hear, more will be given. 25 For whoever has, to him more
will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will
be taken away from him."
Just as a lamp is only useful when placed on a lampstand, the
ultimate purpose of Christ's parables was to reveal truth rather
than to hide it, even though these parables might be somewhat
mystifying initially. The populace in general would not have been
able to handle the undiluted realities of the Kingdom of God;
parables, on the other hand, still illustrated truths and, for
the spiritually perceptive, would stimulate further thinking.
If the hearer paid attention to the parable-had ears to hear (vs
23-4)-the spiritual profit in terms of understanding would be
granted him according to the measure of attention paid to it (v
24). Then "whoever has"-by way of the application of
the heart to understand-would be given more in terms of understanding
and divine blessing (v 24-5). The casual hearer, however, would
only end up in confusion, blinded to the wonderful truths of God
(v25).
Notice how Christ addressed the Jews who were unwilling to accept
His words:
Jn 8:43,47 (NRSV) "Why do you not understand what
I say? It is because you cannot accept my word.
In contrast, God's sheep hear His voice, recognize the truth,
and follow it (Jn 10:3-4). The people of God hear, listen to and
heed the spirit of truth when it witnesses to them:
47 Whoever is from God hears the words of God. The reason you
do not hear them is that you are not from God."
1Jn 4:6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who
is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error.
So the heart must be willing to hear, listen and respond with
godliness to understanding from God. And He expects all of us
to use the thinking minds He has given us to reason and come to
correct and godly conclusions. The Jews whom Christ confronted
were unwilling to do this because false concepts of God lingered
in their hearts which they refused to abandon. What false concepts
do we yet retain?
Lk 11:31-2 The queen of the South will rise up in the
judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for
she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon;
and indeed a greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh
will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn
it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a
greater than Jonah is here.
Christ's teaching was rejected, accompanied though it was with
miracles. However, the Gospel was rejected also by the Jewish
leaders who witnessed the preaching of John the Baptist, but whose
hearts were unprepared to believe truths that differed from their
notions of what was correct. John, who performed not a single
miracle (Jn 10:41) warned them that they were in danger of condemnation:
Mt 3:7-10 But when he [John the Baptist] saw many of the
Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them,
"Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to
come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do
not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father
['Don't refer back to a legacy you have distorted'; in our
experience, we might say: 'Let's be careful not to keep referring
back to a church culture we assume to be godly, but which may
be found wanting'].' For I say to you that God is able to
raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now
the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree
which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the
fire."
Miracles are no guarantee of faith. Ancient Israel saw the miracles
of God for forty years in the wilderness and countless times throughout
the history of the nation; the Scriptures tell us, however, that
they, like the Jews in Christ's day, were rebellious and did not
really understand-or want to understand-them, did not understand
how they attested to God, to His nature and purpose:
Ps 106:7 Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your
wonders; they did not remember the multitude of Your mercies,
but rebelled by the sea; the Red Sea.
Their eyes should have spiritually seen and their ears understood.
Ezekiel also uses the language of Isaiah:
Eze 12:2 "Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a
rebellious house, which has eyes to see but does not see, and
ears to hear but does not hear; for they are a rebellious house."
Judgement is much harsher for those who see the hand of the Lord
and with disbelieving hearts reject what they see and hear:
Mt 11:20-4 Then He [Christ] began to rebuke the cities
in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they
did not repent: 21 "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!
For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in
Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth
and ashes. 22 But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for
Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you,
Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to
Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been
done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But
I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom
in the day of judgment than for you."
Notice that in Christ's words there is no mention of any extenuating
circumstances-such as minds 'blinded' by God.
Yet note verses 25 and 26:
Mt 11:25-6 (NIV) At that time Jesus said, "I praise
you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden
these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little
children. 26 Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure."
These cities that Christ rebuked considered themselves, like the
Jewish leaders of the day who felt they knew how God should do
His work, to be "wise and learned". This pride was the
source of their failure to believe. It would have been far better
for them to have humbled themselves like little children whose
hearts accepted the evidence of these workings from God. These
things were therefore "hidden" from them not by any
capricious decision on the part of God to blind them, but by choices
made by them according to God's foreknowledge, an act of His wisdom,
for which the Father was deserving of praise.
Christ had willed to reveal the Father to them, but they had hearts
unwilling to believe:
Mt 11:27 "All things have been delivered to Me by
My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does
anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the
Son wills to reveal Him."
Similar situations can arise today where Christ, through His servants,
clearly and powerfully presents God and His truth as a witness
which is, however, rejected because of minds reluctant or unwilling
to correctly process what they hear or see happening before them.
Let us make sure we are never guilty of committing such a sin.
Christ's words make it clear that any and all who desire can come
to Him. No-one, when brought face to face with His truth,
is arbitrarily blinded by God from believing in Him:
Mt 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all you who labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke
upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke
is easy and My burden is light."
However, all who are confronted with the Gospel of truth are accountable
if they choose to reject what they hear or see:
Mt 10:14-15 "And whoever will not receive you nor
hear your words [the words of the disciples commissioned by Christ
to preach the Gospel], when you depart from that house or city,
shake off the dust from your feet. 15 Assuredly, I say to you,
it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in
the day of judgment than for that city!"
The preaching of the Gospel by Christ and the apostles was accompanied
by miracles such as healing, but miracles, whether those done
for Israel of old or those performed by Christ during His ministry,
are no guarantee of believing hearts. Human beings still have
choices to make, to process with their minds what their eyes see
and their ears hear.
God has given us minds with which to reason. He expects those
with whom He is dealing directly to make correct, godly decisions.
The works of God should be recognized by the children of God:
Jn 10:37-8 "If I do not do the works of My Father,
do not believe Me; 38 but if I do, though you do not believe
Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the
Father is in Me, and I in Him."
SETTING THE HEART
It is with believing hearts that we seek the true God and His
will:
Ro 10:10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
We need to ask God for understanding of His ways:
Ps 119:27 Make me understand the way of Your precepts;
so shall I meditate on Your wondrous works.
And we must then always set our hearts to understand:
Dan 10:12 Then he said to me, "Do not fear, Daniel,
for from the first day that you set your heart to understand,
and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard;
and I have come because of your words."
Like Daniel, let us resolve to always set our hearts to understand
and to heed the true Words of God so we never fall into spiritual
blindness.