Selective hearing ... and seeing

(photo credit: manbase.com.au)

"Pay attention! Are you deaf? Open your eyes! Are you blind? You're my servant, and you're not looking! You're my messenger, and you're not listening! The very people I depended upon, servants of God, blind as a bat — willfully blind! You've seen a lot, but looked at nothing. You've heard everything, but listened to nothing. God intended, out of the goodness of his heart, to be lavish in his revelation. But this is a people battered and cowed, shut up in attics and closets, Victims licking their wounds, feeling ignored, abandoned. But is anyone out there listening?" (Isaiah 42:18-23, The Message)

God seems a little impatient in those verses, doesn't He? Those of us who are parents have been there. "Mom, where are my shoes?" "I never get to do anything!" "You just don't understand!" And all the while, we are thinking, "Have you looked around lately and seen what you have and what we've done for you?"  It seems that our kids have selective hearing AND seeing.

And all the parents said, "Amen!"

And the only reason we said, "Amen," is that our memories are short. We only looked back far enough to see ourselves as parents. We conveniently neglected the longer look back, when we would see ourselves as the same clueless kids.

How much of God's provision are we totally missing because we can't find our shoes? How much of God's love and grace are we failing to share because we are focusing on what we wish we had and noticing that others seem to have more? We won't grow out of selective hearing.  We have to deliberately choose to listen to God.

Questions: What would it be like for you to stop right now and ask God to open your eyes and ears to the reality of all He has provided for you? How might your conversations today be different after that deliberate focus?

Leave a comment below.  I'd love to hear your perspective.