Hearing, Seeing, and Understanding

By: Kim Garrett

Friday, June 13, 2025

"...go, and say to this people, ‘Listen carefully, but do not understand. Watch closely, but learn nothing.’ Harden the hearts of these people. Plug their ears and shut their eyes. That way, they will not see with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts and turn to me for healing." Isaiah 6:9-10 (NLT)

Have you ever felt spiritually stuck? Specifically, have you ever felt like you couldn't hear God's voice or see Him move? If we can't see or hear, our spiritual lives would shift dramatically. We may not lose our vision and hearing physically, but what about spiritually? Everything in the physical world is preceded by something happening in the spiritual world. God is Spirit, and His Holy Spirit is who relates to our spirit. This verse from 1 Corinthians is a great reminder of how vital the Holy Spirit is.

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:14

Therefore, we need the Holy Spirit, to hear, see, and understand what God wants to say and reveal. For believers, having a close, personal relationship with the Holy Spirit isn't optional, it's mandatory! In Jeremiah 29:13, God says; "You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart." God doesn't want to play a game of hide-and-seek, if we can't find God, the problem must be with us! A lukewarm faith and a lukewarm heart lacking may not be able to recognize God's voice.

If we want to hear and understand God's voice, we must be willing to spend time with Him. Here's how:

1. Go somewhere quiet and communicate with God through your prayers.
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to increase your overall awareness of God and His presence.
3. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how God is working in, through, and around you.
4. Read and meditate on God's Word, then apply it to your life. Spending time in God's Word is how we feed our soul.
5. Fix your eyes on Jesus and keep moving towards Him. Recognize and remove anything in your life that is pulling you further away from Christ.

If we're following Christ, the Holy Spirit is living in our hearts. That means God has provided everything we need to hear, see, and understand Him. If you're struggling to hear Him, cry out to Him! Turn towards the only One who can heal, refresh, and restore your soul... the God of this universe, your Heavenly Father!

Read: Matthew 13:13-16; Proverbs 2:3-6; Hosea 14:9