LEARNING DAILY

 

Ezekiel 12:2, “Son of man, you live among rebels who could see the truth if they wanted to, but they don’t want to. They could hear Me if they would listen, but they won’t listen because they are rebellious. (New Living Translation)

 

Mark 8:18, “You have eyes – can’t you see? You have ears – can’t you hear? Don’t you remember anything at all? (New Living Translation)

 

Ezekiel is living among people who are rebelling against God; they are hearing what God is saying to them but they are not listening to the words and certainly not doing what He is telling them to do. The people do not believe God would destroy Jerusalem and eliminate the king following in the line of David. After all, they were God’s chosen people and believed God would protect them regardless of their sinfulness.

 

Jesus is talking to His disciples in Mark 8:18 and He is making a similar point. Reference to eyes and ears is a literal reference to one’s eyes and ears. It can also refer to one’s ability to see and hear with understanding. They had seen Jesus perform miracles and had heard His teaching. However, it did not affirm their understanding of what the Messiah would do when He came. His methods did not raise a large following that would overthrow the oppressive Roman government. The series The Chosen often shows the conflict within the disciples regarding His real actions versus their perceived actions. It did not take the disciples long to forget past miracles when faced with a different situation in their lives. So often Jesus’ actions did not make sense to them.

 

Not much has changed since that time. It is so much easier to take a scripture we like and make it into something we agree with, that fits into the worldview we have gotten used to. Like the disciples that walked with Jesus we must decide if we are going to trust in the entire truth found in the Word of God or our own interpretations. If we decide on following our own interpretations, we run the risk of finding teachings which go along with what we want to hear. We have heard that recently! The result is following the teachings of those false teachers who will tickle our ears – we have ears but do not hear and eyes but do not see!

 

Jesus asked His disciples if they remembered. In the busyness of everyday life, we must not forget the Word of God we have put into our heart through reading/studying/meditating on God’s Word. If we have not done that, we will not see Him or hear Him among the noise of the day; we will not remember we are walking on a narrow way that leads into His kingdom for eternity. We must remember to be continually growing in our relationship to Jesus Christ is the true and only meaning to walking on the narrow way. May we always remember that repentance for our failures keeps us on the narrow way and leads to growth in our spiritual maturity. May we never forget how we got on the narrow way and always remember what Jesus Christ has done to save us, change us, and to protect us in the past and always remember the love He has for us no matter what. That remembrance is what keeps us moving forward, having eyes to see and ears to hear as He guides us through each day.