Two Priceless Gifts From God.

“Ears to hear and eyes to see – both are gifts from the Lord.” – Proverbs 20:12 NLT

Our two senses of sight and hearing are incredibly important to us. Most of us could not imagine what it would be like to lose either one. But there are countless individuals who have had to learn to live without one or both. Others have had to cope with an increasing diminished capacity in their vision or hearing. And because of it, they understand and value these gifts from the Lord more than most. But I don’t think the writer of this Proverb is simply talking about the capacity to see clearly and hear well. No, there are far too many people with good hearing and great eye sight who might as well be deaf and blind. There problem is a spiritual one. Their organs of sight and hearing are perfectly fine, but they are spiritually deaf and blind. God used this imagery on many occasions, telling the people of Judah, “Listen, you foolish and senseless people, with eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear” (Jeremiah 5:21 NLT). They were unable to see the greatness of God and unwilling to hear the voice of God. In His day, Jesus often referred to the blindness of the Pharisees. “They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch” (Matthew 15:14 NLT).

While sight and hearing are both gifts from the Lord, how much greater the gifts of being able to see and hear spiritually. The ability to see life from God’s perspective and to hear from God clearly are truly God-given gifts. Every Christ-follower has been equipped with these God-given senses of spiritual sight and hearing. As a result, we have the ability and responsibility to listen more and talk less. I think it’s interesting that speech is not listed as one of the gifts. We put a high value on what we say, but God seems to put a higher value on our capacity to listen – not only to Him, but to what is being said around us. We need to train our ears to hear the pain and suffering in the world. We need to hear and discern the falsehood and lies masquerading as truth. We need to hear God speaking in the midst of all the noise around us. But to hear, we have to stop talking.

And we need to see more clearly the world as God sees it. We need His vision and insight. We need His perspective. It is easy to be fooled by the false images of this world. But things are not always as they appear. God gives us the ability to see clearly and truthfully. He alone can open our eyes to the reality of what is going on in the world. When we see clearly, we see Him at work. We see the value of His righteousness and the greatness of His power. We view the world through the lens of the future. Our sight is not limited to the here and now. God has given us a glimpse into the future and we can see that He has a plan that He is working to perfection. The scenes of this present world are not the end of the story. We see the world through the eyes of God and know how the story ends.

Ears to hear and eyes to see – both are gifts from the Lord. How’s your hearing today? How good is your eye sight? Are your ears hearing what God wants you to hear? Are your eyes clearly seeing the world and your circumstances as God sees them? Spiritual eyesight and hearing are truly gifts from God. May we learn to appreciate them and use them well.

Father, give me the capacity to hear what You want me to hear and the ability to see what You want me to see. As my hearing grows dimmer with years and my eye sight gets worse, may I never lose the capacity to hear and see spiritually. Amen.

Ken Miller

Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org