Hearing Or Hearing?
Then Mary said,
“Behold the maidservant of the Lord!
Let it be to me according to your word.”
And the angel departed from her.
Luke 1: 38
A parent tells a teenager to be home by 10:30 at
night, but the teen comes home at 11:30. The
teen
heard the instruction audibly, but they didn’t hear it
in a way that affected their behavior. Their
ears
heard the instructions, but their heart didn’t.
The same disconnect between hearing and hearing
can occur when we read God’s Word. It’s one thing
to read God’s words in the Bible, but it’s another
thing to obey them.
God is sovereign and has every right to speak
to us and expect an obedient response. Think
of
how challenging it must have been for the
teenage Mary to both hear angel Gabriel’s
words from God and obey them.
After all, what the angel said to her must have
been confusing, if not confounding (Luke 1:26-
38). Mary’s response was a model of obedience:
“Let it be to me according to your word.”
When you read God’s words today, make sure
you are hearing with your heart as well as with
your mind. Let
obedience be your response.
"The difficulty we modern Christians face
is not misunderstanding the Bible,
but
persuading our untamed hearts to
accept its plain instructions."
A. W. Tozer