Be opened
Mark 7:34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. 7:35 And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.
As Jesus was departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, on getting to galilee, a deaf and speechless man was brought to Him so he could be healed, without hesitation Christ healed him, after touching his ear, spit and touched his tongue, He commanded both to be open. And it did open.
This story can be related to our life today, while looking away from its physical meaning, looking at its spiritual point of view, there is a spiritual hearing, a hearing of the heart, that we all struggle with at times. And that Jesus wants to heal.
There are many times in scripture when people with perfectly good physical hearing do not hear God’s voice. Why? It is often described as a hardness of heart. Going back to Exodus, we can remember that the Pharaoh’s “heart was hardened, and he would not listen to God or to Moses.” But it is true of God’s people, too. In Psalm 95, God’s people are told not to harden their hearts, but instead to listen to God’s voice. That passage is important enough that the New Testament Letter to the Hebrews quotes it and reflects on it:
As the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, as on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors put me to the test
(Hebrews 3:7-15)
We might be able to hear in other words, but still not be able to hear God’s voice. Because we don’t hear God’s voice with our ears only, but also with our hearts.
It’s hard today to listen to God’s voice with the ears of our heart, in part because there is so much competing noise.
We live in a noisy world, where we hear other messages all day long. On tv, in social media, in the words that we read and the words that we hear, our world is filled with words, and this can make it hard to hear God’s voice.
But the Bible tells us that there is a deeper cause of our lack of hearing, our hardness of heart. And that is sin.
Sin blocks our ears from hearing God’s word of hope. Sin shuts our eyes so that we can no longer see the glory and love of God in our midst. But most damaging of all, sin hardens our hearts.
Jesus, the word who became flesh to live among us, was on a mission, and still is, to open the world’s eyes and ears, but also to open the world’s hearts, to soften them, so that the voice of God could be heard, with the ears of our heart. This is done through salvation
The gospel has been preached and still being preached for our hearts to be opened. The deaf and speechless man was not reluctant neither was he unwilling to be healed. Today do not hardened your heart.
Remove all obstacles that may hinder your heart from being opened. Confess your sins and never go back to it again, close your ears and eyes from the noise of the world, which are temptations to sin, guard your ears and eyes.
God's power is powerful to heal and deliver, but are you ready?
Prepare your heart for Christ today and your whole life will be open to the divine visitation of the trinity.
God bless you.
Prayer key:
1. Lord, thank you for the blessing of today in Jesus Christ name.
2. Lord, I present my life, heart and whole to you, come into my life in Jesus Christ name.
3. Lord, guard my heart against all noises of the world in Jesus Christ name.
4. Thank you Lord for answered prayers in Jesus Christ name. Amen.