One of the greatest architectural wonders of the world is the human ear. Though the ear is small in size, it has remarkable sensitivity to hear sounds ranging from a whisper to the thunderous roar of a large waterfall. The ear can also be selective, being able to suppress some sounds while concentrating on others in a crowded room. Through the use of sound waves entering both ears, the location and distance of sounds can be accurately and instantly determined. The many marvels of this auditory device serve to prove that Creator-God is alone responsible for its design, engineering, and construction.

God has made this wonderful organ of hearing to be standard equipment on man so that he may hear the gospel message and live. He says to all men, "Incline your ear, and come unto Me: hear, and your soul shall live" (Isaiah 55:3). There is eternal life and full and free salvation contained in the Word which God sends to the ear of faith. If the ear is open, the glad tidings of salvation pour themselves into the heart. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live" (John 5:25). The soul that will but truly listen to God is saved.

According to the American Speech-Language Hearing Association, twenty-eight million Americans have a physical hearing loss. To an even greater extent, all of mankind has spiritual hearing problems. Man lost his sense of hearing the words of God in the Garden of Eden when he lent his ear to Satan, and it has never been restored. The natural man is hopelessly and willingly deaf. But Jesus Christ is still opening deaf ears, just as He did for the man described in Mark 7:31-37: "He maketh … the deaf to hear."

Man's spiritual deafness is further illustrated to us by the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:1-23. There we find that only a small percentage of those who hear the gospel message are truly saved by it. Some even hear the Word "with joy" (Matthew 13:20,21), but their bright profession is soon abandoned because there was no conviction of sin and repentance, no real understanding of the Word heard.

To become a child of God one must hear the Word of God and obey it. To hear and live is to hear and believe. God's Word does not depend for its truth upon the sinner's belief of it, but the sinner's salvation does depend upon his hearing and believing its truth.

Job interestingly tells us, "The ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat" (Job 34:3). I would urge you to use the selective ability of your ears to suppress all other voices, and hear God's voice alone. You will find it is not only the music of heaven in your ears, but it will bring you into spiritual relationship and possession of the very life of God!