Dr. Tony Beam Christian Blog and Commentary

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Becoming Deaf to the Voice of the Divine

  • Tony Beam Dr. Tony Beam's Weblog
  • Updated Mar 25, 2005

Maybe it is a good thing God is accustomed to our hearing probems when it comes to listening to His voice.  Many times during Jesus earthly ministry He said, "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."  It was Jesus way of saying, "Listen up, I am about to tell you something important."  Jesus would often lament the deafness of the people He was trying reach.  When asked by His disciples why He spoke in parables, Jesus answered in part, "For the heart of this people has become dull, with their ears they scarcely hear." 

Even after Jesus death and resurrection we see God's people having trouble hearing God's voice.  The author of Hebrews wrote, "it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing." In the Old Testament, Solmon spoke of the value of listening when he said, "He whose ear listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise."

Everyday, I look at the news and I try to see the news from a biblical Christian perspective so I can help others filter the overload of information we get from the media through the gride of God's Word.  As I pause this week to reflect on the significance of the death and resurrection of Christ, I am struck by how many times in the last year God has spoken through nature and through the events of our human experience.  I told a friend of mine the other day it seems God is screaming from heaven but His voice is being largely ignored. 

God raised His voice through an unprecedented barrage of hurricanes which struck the east coast in 2004.  People were forced by nature to turn aside from their personal agendas and turn to helping there fellow humans.  When a large part of the peoples material world was removed by nature, it became much easier to focus on the things in life that really matter.  The hurricanes in Florida revealed the worst (some tried to sell bottled water for $100) and the best (churches opened their doors to disaster relief teams and provided free food for thousands) of humanity.  While I don't believe the hurricanes were sent by God to bring