The blessing of listening to His Spirit
That is why I use these parables, For they look, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand. This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says, ‘When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes—so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’ “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it. Matthew 13:13-17
From the text, the Lord Jesus Christ was quoting passages from the Book of Isaiah. In Isaiah 6, the prophet Isaiah was confronted by the presence of God. Immediately he realized his sinfulness and God forgave him of his sins. Then he expressed his dedication to follow God but God knowing human nature and could read what is in a person’s heart told Isaiah that they will harden their hearts and will not listen to what God will say to them through prophet Isaiah. God wanted to convey His message to us through His word and when we ignore, disobey, or reject what He is telling us, we will miss out on what He wants to accomplish through us. When we sin, God through the Holy Spirit will convict us of our sin so we will turn to Him in repentance. But as soon as we ignore the conviction of our sin and will not repent we are quenching the Holy Spirit and this could lead to hardening of the heart and listening to God’s word becomes a burden rather than a source of joy. Though our actions of disobedience are not acceptable before God but still His will prevails. His work around us will still continue on but He does not want us to quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19). He wants to accomplish great things through the life of God’s children so He could expand His kingdom, but your disobedience to his will can stifle such actions. And to continue with this action, God’s voice and His will becomes muffled and muted in your life. As you continue to suppress the promptings of the Spirit, the opportunity to live your life pleasing before God becomes difficult. You may not like what the Spirit is saying to you because it is contrary to your selfish desires, but His will is to guide you so you will attain abundant life. To obey Him through His word will lead to great blessings and opportunities to serve Him.
Blessings,
