Hearing What We Don't Want to Hear

Acts 7:55-58
But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
Have you seen someone put their fingers in their ears and say, "nah, nah, nah, nah, nah?" Doing this they showed they did not what to hear what was being said to them. Try it sometime. You'll find you cannot hear what the other person is saying. In our passage today, that is what the Jewish leaders are doing -- covering their ears and yelling at the top of their voices. They didn't want to hear anymore of what Stephen had to say.

Have you ever felt that way before? Have you ever felt you've had enough of Scripture, church or preaching? Not long ago I was talking with a young man, who told me he just didn't like going to church anymore. He felt all that was preached about was giving -- the church just wanted his money. I invited him to church shortly after we had this conversation, and following the service he said to me fully vindicated, "See what I mean!" You see he heard what he needed to hear and nothing else. Notice I said, "What he needed to hear." No one else heard a sermon on giving; only he did because that is what he needed to hear. Giving was his heart issue -- generosity -- not just to the church but to everyone, including his wife and children. Have you ever been in a service and you were sure the preacher had been reading your mail? We all have been there. God will send a message to the ear of the one most needful. I know when God gives a message to His preachers all who hear the message will hear something different. In other words they will hear only what they want or need to hear.
Messages from God don’t always come from the pulpit. As we walk through life God will direct us by having someone speak to us. It may be from the wisdom of age or it may be the voice of a child. Either way it is God’s message that pricks our heart. You can put your fingers in your ears hoping the voice will not be heard but God is speaking to the heart not the head. Some call this still small voice conscience or conviction, the voice of reason or a gut feeling. No matter what you call it you must choose how you are going to receive that voice. We accept it reject it or try to ignore it. Before I met the Lord I started feeling something was missing in my life and did not know what or where to look. I know now that was God talking to my heart through the Holy Spirit. Telling me I needed Jesus.

So what should we do when we read Scripture or hear a message that makes us want to cover our ears and yell at the top of our voice to block it out? We have to first be careful to not follow the normal human reaction to information we don't want to hear -- and that is illustrated in our passage today -- "they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him." Rather than stoning, a modern day example might be in the young man’s case: stop going to church, or change churches. In other words, if you remove the person (the pastor/Stephen) and the words (sermon/Scripture), then the issue is removed. All I can say you can run but you can’t hide. Is God calling you? Is He telling you there are things you need to change or be aware of? Maybe it is a purpose you need to fill, the one He designed you to do. The next time you set in a pew and you feel like you are the only one there and the preacher is talking straight to you take the fingers out of your ears and listen. It just might be God calling and you sure don’t want to miss that call.