Dull of hearing...

Heb 5:10 Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 5:11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.


Have you ever had a lot to say to someone but you dreaded it because you know that someone isn't a very good listener? How many people are dull of hearing? There are books written on the subject of becoming a good listener. Just a quick check with google came up with these three titles-

Becoming a Good Listener
The Value of Being a Good Listener
About Being a Good Listener

If anything this tells us that people aren't good listeners and NEED to be taught to be good listeners. Shouldn't we be raised to be good listeners? Isn't this something we should teach our children? That old listen to your elders and so on? People have LOST the ability to be good listeners because our minds are just churning with thoughts and no sooner than we think them we believe those thoughts need to be voiced out loud because what we think is important, right? We want to be heard. We want to tell OUR side of the story, we want to get OUR point across. Our ideas are valuable aren't they? We are so darn busy being concerned about OUR selves that we don't listen, really listen. We might skim listen and we might skim listen a lot! What's skim listening? Just what it sounds like. We skim the talking of others by just listening to bits and pieces while we concentrate also on our replies to what they're saying EVEN if they're not finished speaking. We get the gist of what someone is saying and that's enough, right? We think on our feet, we're ten steps ahead of the next person, we're on the ball, we are multi-taskers and we're good at it, proud of it! We award people that can talk around others, that can get people to do what they want as they talk to them. Sales people, con artists, scammers all have this ability and we applaud them when they're legit sales people who break no laws when they're using their ability to persuade. We feel cheated when we are unlawfully conned. What people don't always realize is that a con artist and sales person while they talk a great game are also listening to us for various clues so they can use their scheming ways in a personal manner. They listen.


Heb 5:11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.


Hard to be uttered, why? Because you are dull of hearing.


Why speak if no one is going to listen? Why talk if you have no one to hear? It's like talking to no one if you talk and talk and no one listens, isn't it? Have you ever seen the glazed eyed look of others when you're going on and on as you talk? Or do you get that glazed look right when you start to speak, because people are instantly UNINTERESTED in anything you have to say. They assume before you even get going that you're not going to have anything to say that will interest them. They won't have to care about what you're saying, so why bother wasting time listening.


Hard to be uttered, because you are dull of hearing.


Do you ever get to the point where you don't want to bother speaking because you know others are DULL OF HEARING, that they don't want to listen to what you're saying, that they could careless about what you have to say- no matter how important?


Here we are being told that they want to talk of MANY things about our Savior. There are MANY THINGS to say but they don't want to say them because those they are wanting to speak to don't want to listen. How tragic, how very, very tragic to know that people don't want to hear many things about their Savior. Today we could go on the crowded street and try and take a poll asking people if they want to hear about Jesus their Savior and how many people would really want to stop and listen? We don't really know do we but we can imagine, can't we? Not many. Then or now, it's the same. We are DULL of hearing.


Heb 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.


Heb 5:13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.


Babies are unlearned and can't eat solid food. Babies are unlearned and while babies have an excuse for their behavior, we don't. Adults who are still drinking formula and not solid food are oddities, it's unheard of (outside of illness and such). We are expected to drink our milk as babes and then as we grow start eating solid food. We are not expected to just keep on drinking milk and never transition to solid food. Spiritual milk is for babes, those new to the knowledge of the Lord and in need of much learning of the very basics of Salvation through our Lord and Savior. Spiritual meat is what comes next. We aren't expected to continue just drinking the spiritual milk endlessly, but we are expected to learn the deeper things. We are to live our entire LIVES devoted to our Savior and we have an amazing book of learning to guide us, a book that is miraculous that offers us milk to start with and meat as we continue on in our spiritual life. People like to ignore the meat and just keep taking in the milk, they don't want to have to chew, just be fed the easy liquid with no chewing involved, no energy expended, no more than what they believe is necessary to stay spiritually alive. We need strong spiritual meat to live spiritually if we are to grow spiritually at all and not remain babes, stunted in our spiritual growth.


Strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age- even those who by reason of USE have their senses EXERCISED to discern both good and evil.

Yet…

For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.


You are old enough to teach others and yet you now need to be taught again. This isn't a good thing! We can't endlessly be taught and never learn enough to teach. All through our maturing years we are required to be learning in some sort of learning environment, school, homeschool, as we are growing up we are to be learning to become knowledgeable adults expected to LEARN things. When we encounter adults that don't have the knowledge they were supposed to have been taught when they were young we don't look upon them favorably do we? You should KNOW better by now. And maybe, just maybe there is an excuse for their not knowing, but what if there isn't one?


We must read this…

Heb 5:13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.


We don't want to be unskillful in the word of righteousness- that word is JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD, OUR SAVIOR! Salvation is found in the RIGHTEOUSNESS of our Lord! If we are unskillful in the word of righteousness we know little of salvation. We need to exercise our senses, our spiritual senses need to be exercised - we need to constantly be learning and growing in knowledge of our LORD and we will be able to DISCERN good and evil. We NEED this ability to discern because there are way too many people who have lost the ability of discernment and they honestly believe that evil is good, and good is evil. It's an honest belief to them because they have NO ability to discern, they've not grown in the knowledge of our Lord's righteousness but they just keep drinking the milk of their spiritual youth, their growth stunted their spiritual life no longer truly living.


Please Lord, please help us to grow in Your word of righteousness! Help us Lord to eat the spiritual meat You offer to us. Help us to grow in knowledge of You. Help us LISTEN and not be dull of hearing.


By Your grace, Your mercy, Your Love!



Amen.