Eyes Without Seeing…

Posted by Lorren on July 27, 2008

Sometimes I’ve wondered about that verse in Matthew 13:14-15 that includes “hearing you will hear and not understand, and seeing you will see and not percieve”. I always thought that was pretty unfair. Why would God allow people to listen to Jesus and not understand him?

I ran into this verse today in Psalms 135 today:

The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
The work of men’s hands.
They have mouths, but they do not speak;
Eyes they have, but they do not see;
They have ears, but they do not hear;
Nor is there any breath in their mouths.
Those who make them are like them;
So is everyone who trusts in them.

Psalm 135:15-18

Bold emphasis mine

Now, I don’t know if my understanding of this is true or not, but it seems to make a lot of sense. Some people were able to understand Jesus. Perhaps the people that were not able to understand Jesus had their own idols in their lives, or made idols.

An idol doesn’t have to be a little object made out of wood or stone. Didn’t the Pharisees have idols, in a way? They had all their special rules, said special prayers to be seen of by others, desired the best places at banquet tables. Was their own sense of righteousness an idol to them? Did they place their own ceremonial laws and customs above the things of God? Perhaps.

We can do the same things too. We don’t usually bow down to statues, but how many teenagers adore the latest pop stars and put posters of them all over their room? How many guys would rather stay home and watch football than go to church? How many people spend their extra time with their hobbies, or jobs, or maybe at the gym, rather than praying or reading the Bible? How many people faint and swoon and go gaga over Barak Obama? Those are our idols.

If we trust in idols, rather than trusting in God, we might find ourselves like the Israelites, that had ears and could not hear, and eyes without being able to see.