All Will Hear

“¹⁸In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.” – Isaiah 29:18 (ESV)

When you read this verse alone, I get the sense that God will make sure that even if you are deaf, you will be presented with God’s Word and will be able to hear. What a great thing to know that one will not be left out just because of their physical limitation. I am proud that God has every intention to give everyone the opportunity to follow Him.

“¹¹And the vision of all this has become to you like the word of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying ‘Read this’, he says ‘I cannot, for it is sealed.’ ¹²And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, ‘Read this,” he says, ‘I cannot read.’” – Isaiah 29:11-12 (ESV)

I see that above, two are given the opportunity to hear the words of the book and they choose not to, both making an excuse, sealed book and cannot read. I wonder what would have become of the Ethiopian man had he taken the same approach when reading Isaiah himself.

“³⁰So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ ³¹And he said, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ “and he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.” – Acts 8:30-31 (ESV)

The Ethiopian man did not make excuses and took the chance he had to hear and seized it by inviting Philip to join him and help. He heard and received and was baptized. The two men described in the verses from Isaiah took to excuses and did not put forth any effort at all to hear, thereby choosing to avoid hearing all together.

I know that I am still learning to hear and have at times made the excuse that something is in my way. I must remember to seize every opportunity to hear from God. I will not make excuses, I will hear.

If I don’t choose to hear, God will make sure that I do when He comes again. For “even the deaf shall hear” as noted in verse 18 above.

When you are presented with the opportunity to hear, what excuses are you making? Are you seizing the opportunity to hear? Are you aware that all will hear?