Proverbs 20:12

Newborns are inspected to see if ears and eyes work. Believers thank God for a healthy child. Pagans thank Fate. Functional ears and eyes are very precious and useful. But they are God’s choice; He does not owe anything to anyone, including hearing and vision.

It is God’s sovereign and gracious choice that any hear or see. Hearing and seeing are not rights; they are blessed privileges. And the greatest gift of hearing and seeing is the ability and desire to discern and receive the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ and the words of wisdom and truth. It is the very rare ability to understand, repent, and obey the gospel.

A deaf or blind child is not an accident. It is not a result of fate. It cannot be overturned by science. It is the choice of the true God. He is perfect in all choices, and He makes thousands of such choices for each person. His power is unlimited and his authority absolute. As the Creator of a rebellious race, He has the right to do as He chooses.

You were not even consulted if you wanted to live, if you wanted existence. Consider his infinite authority and sovereignty over you. Once you were alive, you could not turn off your existence. Suicide only kills your body, after which your spirit must meet God as a guilty murderer. Your existence is the choice of Almighty God without your agreement.

He chose your generation of birth, your height, nation of origin, sex, parents, temperament, siblings, intelligence, athletic ability, opportunities in life, and every other factor that influences your existence. He is the LORD! You are nothing! He is the Potter! You are the clay! His choices have drastically affected your life without your approval.

Do you humbly believe what you have read so far? God warns about you fighting against Him (Is 45:9). Since He is the Potter, and you are the clay, he considers your arguments fit only for broken pieces of pottery to exchange with each other. The clay does not even have the right to question the Potter when a human form is made without hands (Is 45:9).

Humble yourself before this great and dreadful God. Crush your vain thoughts. Give Him praise and worship. Adore Him. Thank Him for all that you have and are. Offer Him all that you have and are. Beg Him for mercy for your sins. Dedicate your life to Him, today.

When the disciples saw a man born blind, they knew it had been God’s choice. Jesus told them it was for God’s glory (John 9:1-3). Would God blind a man for 30 years just for His own glory? Easily! Would God put a man out to pasture like an ox for His own glory? Definitely! Read Daniel 4 about Nebuchadnezzar. Do you love and fear this God?

Spiritual hearing and sight are much more important than physical. It is only by God’s free grace that any sinners are given spiritual ears and eyes to hear and see the things of God. Most men do not think about God in any meaningful way their entire lives (Ps 10:4). Spiritual senses are given when you are born again. You received natural hearing and vision at your first birth; you receive spiritual hearing and vision at your second birth.

Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). And also, “He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God” (John 8:47). Both sight and hearing are the gifts of God. Jesus Christ hid the truth from the Jews, but He revealed it to His disciples (Matt 11:25-27; 13:10-16).

Why do most men not even consider God and truth? Why do most men think the gospel to be foolish? God has not opened their ears to hear it with understanding and conviction. Why do most see His glorious creation and ascribe their existence to evolution and fate? God has not opened their eyes to see Him or His truth. You depend on God’s choice.

The rich man in hell asked Abraham to send Lazarus back from the dead to warn his five brothers from joining him there. But Abraham’s sober answer was that without the grace of God to open their ears and eyes, even a man coming back from the dead would not convict or change their depraved and rebellious hearts (Luke 16:27-31). If they were not interested in Bible reading, they would not be interested in a man back from the dead.

Have you wondered why family and/or friends do not appreciate the things God has shown you in His word? Why are they not convicted like you about God and godliness? You know what would happen if you confronted classmates or colleagues about Jesus Christ, coming judgment, and living a holy life. They would reject your words and hate you. What is the explanation? You have hearing ears and seeing eyes – they do not.

Do not be frustrated by most people rejecting truth and wisdom, no matter how well you present it. Jesus and Paul met with the same response. The religious leaders of the Jews crucified Jesus, and they chased Paul around the Roman Empire until he was beheaded. Thank God for your hearing ears and seeing eyes, and pray for Him to lead you to others that have been born again. God can and will lead you to a Cornelius or a Lydia.

There are no human means to bring hearing to ears and sight to eyes. Only the LORD can do this great work. Manmade evangelistic efforts to sound the gospel to deaf ears or show the Saviour to blind eyes are foolish and vain. The gospel is only heard and seen by those already born again, men with hearing ears and seeing eyes (I Cor 1:18,24; 2:14-15).

Salvation is of the Lord! God has chosen some to eternal life (Eph 1:4). He sent Jesus Christ to die for their sins, and He will surely regenerate and glorify them (Rom 8:29-33). He gives them hearing ears and seeing eyes. Luke described those who believed Paul this way: “And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48).

God is also the Potter and you the clay when it comes to eternal life (Rom 9:20-24). He makes some men vessels of honor, and He makes some men vessels of dishonor. You do not even have the right to question Him. Read this glorious passage and worship Him. We are a rebel race, and He is perfectly justified in His purpose to save some and damn others. He has chosen to show His wrath and power in some and His glory in others.

How is a man born again with spiritual ears and eyes? Jesus the Son of God commands him to come to life and resurrects his soul from spiritual death (John 5:25-29). This glorious work is by the power and grace of God, without any human cooperation (John 1:13; 3:8; Rom 9:16; Eph 1:19-20; 2:1-10). The Lord Jesus Christ exercises the same creative power He used to bring forth light in the beginning (II Cor 4:3-6; Eph 2:10).

Only after that great event will you or can you hear and see the things of God. It is then that pagans like Cornelius begin fearing God, praying each day, and giving alms to the poor (Acts 10:1-4). And when the gospel is brought to such a man by the providence of God, he believes and obeys it as the glorious news that it is (Acts 10:33,44-48).

If you can hear or see the things of God today, give Him thanks, and run in the direction of that conviction, today. If you fear you are not born again, your duty is the same. Run to the Lord Jesus Christ, own Him as your Sovereign and only Hope, and obey Him. This is the evidence of perfect hearing and vision (II Pet 1:5-10; I John 2:29; 3:7; 5:1-5).

Jesus Christ is waiting to show Himself to the universe, for He is the Blessed and Only Potentate, King of kings and Lord of lords (I Tim 6:14-15). He is coming with ten thousands of His angels to destroy His enemies (Jude 1:14; II Thess 1:7-9). Believe and obey Him today, for tomorrow may bring the curse of His coming (I Cor 16:22).