“When You Hear, Try To Understand!”

“When You Hear, Try To Understand!”(Mt.13:1-9&18-23).
I was chaplain in one of our secondary schools were results were outstandingly topnotch. Recruitment into form one emphasised on pupils who had excelled in the common entrance and their first certifcate examinations. The enrolment into form one was about 250 students, but by the time they got to fifth form there were only about 75. Even so, during the GCE the 75 were screened and thinned down to 60 students or less!
Some worries on this: Why is it that students listen to the same teachers but not all are able to pass the promotion examinations?
If you bring the first from say 20 schools and put them in one class, during examinations one of them would tail the class. Why is it so? Is it about variations in IQ?
Is it about understanding and maybe innerstanding. To understand something is to stand outside of it and see it clearly. To innerstand is to embody a wordless knowing that defies description…”
The parable of the sower gives us the spiritual impact of understanding; spiced with innerstanding. “When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart…But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
Understanding is key to salvation. No matter how deep and profound something may be, it still cannot have any positive impact upon us if we have not understood it.
The word of God does not always come to us in plain language. When we read we may not be able to understand unless there is someone to explain to us; either backstage as Jesus did in our text, or like Philip did to the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:30-31).
To understand is to keep your mind unbiased. When your mind is closed up to spiritual realities, the word of God seemingly become rain on a duck’s body. As soon as the duck shirks its body, and within the twinkle of an eye it wouldn’t seem as if rain fell on its body.
Dear friend, we may have disobeyed in the past, but God has again set a certain day, calling it Today! That is why it is written, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts”(Heb.6:4-8).
Obedience to the LORD does not come from a logical conclusion based on a sound premise. Belief and obedience defies logic; even if they can be logically explained. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and our ways are not his ways.
And he declares: …so is the word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it”(Is,55:6-11).
God’s word is eternal. Those who have tasted the goodness of the LORD have an obligation to open their mouths in parables and utter hidden things from of old. What we have heard and known from of old, we must pass them on to the next generation()s.78:1-7).
My friend, Today, if you hear God’s voice harden not your heart; rather try to understand it so that you can profuce a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
Sunday prayer: Lord Jesus Christ make me a soil (man) that hears the word and understands. Amen!
Have a blessed Sunday! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.