What is it about our eyes and ears that are so spiritual?
“But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.”
(Matthew 13:16)
We have 8 human senses in total (some scholars say 22+)
1. Sight
2. Hearing
3. Smell
4. Taste
5. Touch
6. Discernment (intuition)
7. Balance (vestibular )
8. Proprioception
Our 6th sense is our discernment; this is essential because our sensory integration system plays a role in how we perceive the environment spiritually. We know the closer we seek God in prayer, reading the word, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, and bearing the fruits of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) (Galatians 5:22-23), our discernment is sharpened. Whether or not you had it before, it needs to be exercised. One of the main ways we consume energy around us (listening to music, watching TV, and speaking/interacting with people) is through the instruments being our eyes, ears, and mouth. What we consume, how we consume, and how much we consume are essential. This dictates our emotions and then, in return, affects our actions, which can potentially be a gateway to sin, dulling our senses. If we are surrounded by people who pressure us to engage in activities that harm us, watch, listen to things, or people who deplete our energy, we are less likely to hear God’s voice and see His hand at work in our lives.
Too much distraction in a busy world and not enough time to slow down, reflect, and seek God is a recipe for disaster.
A recipe for feeling burnt out, out of control, weary, lost, stuck, numb, and depressed. This is because we used our greatest instruments given to us the wrong way. “The eyes are the window to the soul,” and the ears and mouth are the doors to expression and understanding. I’m not saying stop talking with your best friend, stop watching your favorite show ( maybe a break from binge-watching), or listen to your favorite song on repeat ever again, but just tune out the things around you and tune your eyes and ears in more frequently and consistently.
Your eyes and ears are the direct line to Jesus.
This is why you need to do what you can in your control to protect it! Even when you’re too overwhelmed to hear him. God still speaks, even if he is silent; God still moves, and you will see only if you continue drawing near to him in prayer, reading your word, and spending time in the church community weekly. One of Jesus’s greatest miracles is healing the blind men (Mark 8:23-26, Mark 10:46). Jesus heard the men’s cries and showed compassion for the man’s desperate need to gain vision, as Jesus knows that our eyes of the lamp of our body and He is the light. This is how we gain a connection and relationship with Jesus (Matthew 6:22-23). Seeing and hearing would then allow us to understand, receive, and give.
However, seasons of isolation are crucial; under the heavens, there is a time and a place for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). God connects with us through our eyes and ears. Sometimes he’ll separate us from our daily activities and lives if they become too loud. Prayer, fasting, toiling, threshing, pruning, and sowing take time and are usually done in a quiet place, in the early mornings, so that we will reap, rejoice, and have a bountiful harvest in due time. This can’t be done if the distractions are too loud. Years of working, hustling, and consuming, the cycle that caused no fruit to bear in your life is because you know of God and the goodness He can do but you don’t trust him nor did you make him the center of your life in ALL that you do (Ecclesiastes 4:6, Matthew 6:33). You don’t have eyes to see and ears to hear because your mouth is constantly open. You are comfortable with not changing. Your mouth speaks word curses over yourself, allowing yourself to block your blessings, complaining about your situation, and gossiping about the same people, what they did and didn’t do (Proverbs 18:21). What will you do?! Be slow to speak and quick to listen(James 1:19-20).
Slow down, pray, be quiet, lead with your ears before your tongue, and receive.
Find joy in your labor, then be willing to give what you learn when prompted by God to do so. Don’t allow spiritual blindness, drunkardness, and laziness to dictate any more of your life and even harm the lives of those around you, because your actions have consequences. (Job 12:25)
The Spiritually Blind and Deaf
“Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear” (Jeremiah 5:21)
When the heart is of stone, our eyes are calloused and our ears are hardened, this is the effect of being far away from God. Even though nothing can separate us from the love of God, sin blurs those lines till we see nothing wrong with our deeds, we become blind because we’ve been saturated with worldly things and seemingly “innocent” distractions and interactions with people. This leads us astray. Living in the cycle of blindness, drunkardness, and laziness allows someone to not hear or do what’s best, even if they know or don’t know what is wrong.
Our spirits will become weak, and so will our convictions. When we are spiritually weak with a heart of stone, calloused eyes, and hardened ears, we won’t have a sound mind to receive the blessings God and others will give us.
You’ll miss out because of your stubbornness and pride. Correction, love, and encouragement will be translated to shame, guilt, hate, and anger. If someone is physically blind, a gentle random touch can be unexpected, uncomfortable, and a threat. This is the same for spiritual blindness as well; gentle gestures and corrections are uncomfortable and threatening because you can’t see. When all the doors and windows to the house are cemented shut, you can’t give freely or receive freely, so you perceive everything is intruding on your home. So you shut down, remain prideful and selfish, and this cycle of complacency is slowly killing you. Will you ever know, see, or hear? How will they know, understand, see, and hear?
Be alert (1 Peter 5:8, Ephesians 6:12, Ephesians 6:14-18)
Energy and atoms are all around us; they can’t be created or destroyed. You can choose and tune the energy you want to have around and in your life. Even though we navigate our life on what we see in the fallen world around us, imagine what we CAN’T see or hear. Granted, there are some things we’ll never know, see, or hear because we aren’t God, His ways and thoughts are higher than ours, so he knows best. Only through him can God strengthen our human eyes and ears so that we may gain spiritual eyes and ears to perceive beyond the physical world. The insight and perspective are like no other and no amount of money can buy. To have keenness, wisdom, guidance, protection, a sound mind, and discernment to navigate our lives. To live in spirit and truth. To know and fall in love with God’s character and be grounded and led by God’s quiet, still voice. It’s not something even I, as I continue to practice my faith, am not perfect, and don’t want to miss out on it as my life depends on it.
Prayer
Abba, we humbly come before you; we repent. Help us turn away from the things that keep us in complacency, apathy, blindness, and drunkardness. Allow us to slow down, reflect, and turn from our faults. Help us not to be weakened, easily swayed, and distracted by the things of this world. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear you and your voice, and allow our spiritual sensitivity to increase, tuning our hearts, minds, ears, and eyes to you. Let us be spiritually sharp, discern what is right from wrong, and not confuse the two or blur the lines to satisfy our desires. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear you, Holy Spirit. Let us not depart from your ways and not walk by the things of the world with our sight in the physical, leading us wayward. You are all-seeing, hearing, and all-wise God, grant us wisdom and understanding. Help us not desire things that we can’t handle or aren’t good for us in the long run. Order our steps, barter our tongues, remove the callouses of our eyes, and give us a heart of flesh to love, give, and receive as we are called to do. Let our existence be evidence of your hand at work, our temples pure, eyes, ears, mouth clean, sweet, loving, and our gardens blossoming a bountiful harvest. Teach us to protect the doors and windows of our temples, protect our eyes and ears from evil. Lead us on the path that leads to life and not death. Help us from here on put our hope and trust in you, Father God. We need you because, apart from you, we are nothing. Help us each day to exercise this in Jesus’ mighty name, thank you, Jesus, thank you, Holy Spirit, Amen.
More verses about eyes and ears
➔ https://www.openbible.info/topics/hearing_and_seeing_evil
➔ https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-about-eyes/