Hearing the Lord

Throughout Jesus' life and ministry, He repeats a simple but powerful phrase: "He who has ears, let him hear."  This line is pregnant with theological import.  Implied in this statement is twofold: first off, not everyone has ears; secondly, those who have ears might not be using them.  Because of Jesus' repeated use of this phrase, it is important.  The first question to ask is who has ears.

In John 10, Jesus preaches a significant sermon.  In this sermon, He says some very important things; however, for the purpose of this debate, one thing stands out for its significance: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me (John 10:27)."  The first indicator of having ears to hear is those that do are believers.

This seems harsh but it is absolutely biblical: only believers have ears to hear.  Unbelievers are not able to hear His voice no matter how hard they try because they simply do not have ears to hear.  This is clear that those that have the ability to hear have it because they are already His.  Because Christians belong to His sheepfold, they hear and know His voice because He is the true Shepherd of the flock; there is no other shepherd.  Any other potential shepherd is a false prophet, a heretic, a wolf, a thief, and a liar.

The story of having ears does not end with identifying who has ears, though, because Jesus says, "he who has ears, let him hear," indicates that not everyone who has ears uses them.  This is important and worth pointing out: not every believer uses his/her ears, and not every believer is listening to the Lord. This is challenging teaching but it is real.  The Lord's voice is not the only voice trying to speak to believers.  Because of this, understanding the practicals of hearing His voice is paramount and essential.

There's much to be said but it can be simplified into two basic points.  At the onset, His voice is a spiritual voice.  Because God is who He is and He speaks through His Holy Spirit, hearing His voice is a spiritual endeavor.  This seems rudimentary but its practical application is not.  When we say that hearing His voice is a spiritual undertaking, it conversely means that it is not a fleshly pursuit.

Because the fleshly man is utterly unable to understand the spiritual things (Rom. 8:7; 1 Cor. 2:14), hearing the voice of God is spiritually done.  This means that striving to hear God's voice requires the listener to transcend his/her fleshly listening faculties and in order to open his/her spiritual ears.  Opening  the spiritual ears requires active participation on the part of the potential hearer.

Romans 10:17 says that faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.  This is a remarkable verse that points to how spiritual ears are formed and tuned: through faith in Christ and His Word.  Hearing God's voice requires faith in Jesus because, through Christ, we are given the Holy Spirit which is the activator of our spiritual ears and the voice speaking thereof.

Think of a radio.  You can search every possible station and still not find the show you're looking for until you realize that you're on AM when the show is on FM.  Similarly, if we are trying to listen to God on FM (from the flesh) while He is on AM (in the Spirit), then we will not be able to hear His voice.  This points to the absolute necessity of the Word of God.  The Word helps us tune in our spiritual ears to hear the voice of God.  When we are devoted to the Word, we will be more apt and able to tune into Him.