How well do you hear?
by John Berry
I am at the age now where I have to have a little help with my hearing, as was recently demonstrated when we were away on holiday in our caravan and a pipe broke. My wife insisted she could hear running water and I was convinced there was none. Unfortunately she was right, and we had to put up with a wet carpet.
Earlier that week we had another problem with the caravan, this time electrical. I was at a loss what to do and getting a bit stressed, but my wife prayed (yes I know I should have done so too) and got the answer which fixed it. I was a bit embarrassed, because I thought I knew what to do, but though seeing the problem I didn’t perceive the real issue behind it. Two parables for me to learn from!
Jesus quoted the passage in Isaiah as part of his explanation of his use of parables. To some the things of the Kingdom are hidden and veiled. Unless we look with the eye of faith they are just stories, but with Holy Spirit understanding they are life and reality to us. As Paul reminds us “we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has given us.”Romans 2:12
Our humanity however can get the better of us and cause us to try to understand things on a purely natural level, whilst God wants us to listen spiritually, even in ordinary every day situations like leaking taps! God is involved in every aspect of our lives and is speaking to us in those things of our normal living so that we can have a Kingdom perspective. As believers we should be looking for the supernatural in the natural.
So next time we have one of those problems that seem to perplex us, why not try listening to what God might be saying about it, and save yourself a lot of unnecessary stress and frustration, not to mention a wet carpet! Thank God for my ‘hearing assistant’ - the Holy Spirit who spoke through my wife that day.
John Berry entered the Baptist Ministry more than 40 years ago, and joined the Team at Ellel Glyndley Manor in 2007 with his wife Jennie. They have both now retired from the team but remain as part of the Teaching and Associate Ministry Teams at Glyndley. John and Jennie have seven Grandchildren.
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