Deadly Deafness
I remember the time when returning from our honeymoon (boy, that sure is going back a few years!), we moved into a flat at Stanthorpe. It was an old Queenslander divided into 2, and was fairly comfy and roomy. And it was very handy, right on the New England Highway, long before they built the By-pass.
Well on the first night we had just drifted off to sleep, when we were awakened by a terrible noise, accompanied by the whole house shaking! An earthquake perhaps? Not at all. It was about 11 pm, and it was the start of a long line of trucks and semi-trailers, committed to reaching Sydney by the morning.
They would come roaring across the Quart Pot Creek Bridge, change down a gear or two right in front of our place, and then continue flat-out up the hill. Well we didn't get much sleep that night, but you know what? After about a week or so the noise and the shaking no longer worried us - we didn't feel or hear the trucks any more!
Amazing, isn't it? What used to be so loud and earth-shaking, became something we could eventually ignore totally. Yes, sometimes it's good to block out noise - that way you can keep your sanity - and for us living on that Highway, it enabled us to keep our eyes open during the day!
But sometimes it's not good to block out the noise. Like the man so deep in his own thoughts, that he did not hear the train coming while crossing the railway line and was killed. It's a reminder that we must always be aware of a "DEADLY DEAFNESS".
Sadly many people do suffer from "deadly deafness" - they no longer hear the voice of God. In Hebrews 3:7, we read this sobering warning about this deadly deafness: "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts."
Every time you hear about what Jesus did for you on the cross and you do nothing about it, your heart gets a little harder. We wouldn't know that, if God didn't tell us about it in the Bible. The hardening of your heart is gradual - almost imperceptible - but very, very real and very, very dangerous. Proverbs 29:1 tells us that the one who continually ignores many warnings from God "will suddenly be destroyed - without remedy".
The Bible gives us a disturbing example of this danger in the story of Pharaoh. Moses continued to deliver a message from God to Egypt's king and he continued to disregard it. The Book of Exodus tells us that "Pharaoh hardened his heart" several times (Exodus 8:14, 32).
After all the times Pharaoh heard and rejected God's message, the Bible tells us that "the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart" (Exodus 9:12). He reached the point where he could not respond to God because of all the times he DID NOT respond to God previously. Ultimately, Moses says, speaking on God's behalf, "I will never appear before you again" (Exodus 10:29).
I am sure that you also have heard about Jesus many times. You've heard what He did on the cross for you - He died to pay for the sins that cut you off from God. You've heard that He's alive. You've heard that He's inviting you to put your trust in Him. And you may even agree with Jesus - even have an admiration for Him!
But you've never responded to His gracious invitation to follow Him. And so without knowing it, without meaning to, you've been hardening your heart. You're so familiar with Jesus that you're becoming immune to Jesus!
But if you sense any stirring in your heart toward Jesus, there's still time. You can still believe because God has come to draw you to His Son at least one more time; at least this time. When will it be too late to choose Jesus? Only God knows.
What we do know is that today is your only guaranteed opportunity to make Jesus your own Saviour, to allow Him to forgive your sins; to change your eternal destination from hell to heaven.
Even Christians can suffer from deafness. You become so involved in the things of the world, you are so engrossed in a lifestyle which is far from honouring God, that you also do not hear (or you deliberately shut out?) His voice.
While perhaps happy on the outside, deep down you are not, for when you cut yourself off from God, you do not know the peace and joy which you once had in Jesus Christ. You doubt, and begin to ask yourself: "Am I a Christian?" "Can I come back to the Lord?"
In both instances, being saved by Christ, or being restored in Christ, starts when you tell Him, "I'm Yours, Lord. I have no other hope but You and what You did on the cross for me." Remember what God says. Today if you hear His voice... respond to his love!
Believe and trust Him for now, for all eternity. Yes, trust Him while you still can. There's so much to gain when you do love and follow Jesus and there's so much to lose if you don't. Don't suffer from deadly deafness any longer. Believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace.....