When he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,
“‘though seeing, they may not see;
though hearing, they may not understand.”

–Parallel verses:
Isaiah 6: 8-10
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” He said, “Go and tell this people: ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

I recently took a trip to look at some countryside this past week. In Idaho, you can get out into some incredibly beautiful areas, as the state has such beautiful and diverse topography. It was a decent drive up to just outside Orofino, ID, but the views were amazing. Then we walked around and experienced the sights and sounds of the land at a location I really like by the Clearwater River. What impressed me was that after 16 hours of driving in two days, and being tired; my mind felt refreshed. Why was this? I think it was because my senses were stimulated. In the drive I could see the beautiful mountains and get away from the humdrum of daily life. But beyond that, once I got out of the car and walked around this beautiful property by the river, all of my senses came alive. I could smell the pine tree, I could touch the water, I could taste the wild cherries, I could hear the birds, and I could see up close the beauty of God’s nature.

What Jesus is referring to here is our “spiritual senses”. He speaks to the crowd and says, “Whoever has ears to ear, let him hear.” Then he tells his disciples that “though seeing, they may not see, and though hearing they may not understand.” This quick reference to Isaiah 6 would have been known to the Jews. It was the passage referring to the Prophet Isaiah and his calling into ministry. I have expanded this in the cross-reference and we see that God is calling Isaiah to preach to a hard-hearted people. He says they will be ever seeing, but never perceiving, ever hearing, but never understanding. Their hearts will be calloused. And then God says something very interesting: “Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Do you ever wonder why you may be having a hard time hearing or understanding God’s will for your life? (I have!) Maybe our spiritual senses have been “stopped-up”. Maybe we stay inside the car in our spiritual lives and never get out and really experience the beautiful world around us as God intended. God wants us to be spiritually alive in Christ! We must dwell with him and work through the hard times to see the deeper beauty of life with God – to really experience it with our spiritual senses!

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” (Psalm 34:8)

Lord, thank you for this reminder from your Word to really take time spiritually to engage with you. Your word talks about prayer being a sweet aroma to you. It talks about seeing into the hearts of men. It talks about touching the lives of others with kindness. Please help me to not miss out on this spiritually, sense-filled world you desire for me to operate in with you. Life with you is an EXPLOSION of my spiritual senses!