Faith Comes by Hearing

I have been struggling over the last few weeks. I have been slowly having my hearing get muffled in my left ear. I could tell there was water build up. I tried to take some allergy medication, but that didn’t help. I tried to use the spray up my nostrils, but my ability to hear continued to decline. Yesterday, it really started to affect my right ear. I can’t afford to wait for it to clear up, especially since it was on its way to making both my ears too muffled to hear anything. I finally decided that I needed to see a doctor. He looked in my left ear and confirmed what I already kind of knew. He then prescribed me with medicine to hopefully unclog a plugged drainage tube. Waiting to see what will happen now. I was finding myself starting to really struggle with conversations. If someone was on my left side, I almost couldn’t tell what they were saying. How can I be connected to something I don’t even know happened. So often, we take our hearing for granted. If we start losing it, we assume there will be hearing aids to help us with that. But what if we lose our hearing all together. How drastically our life would change. Just struggling with one ear was incredibly hard. I could hear sounds with my right ear, but I had no idea where they were coming from. Romans 10 says, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?" Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” Some heard the sound, but not the content, or else they would have believed. Like my hearing decline, it is dangerous when we don’t know where the word comes from. If faith comes by hearing, we need to make sure that God’s word is clearly heard. It is not about yelling louder but finding a place and time when they are most likely to listen... sadly, that may not be in the church. This is why Bible studies in people's homes can be so crucial... it is easier to ask question. Are our ears in tune to God? Father, not only open our ears, but as You lead us to others who need to hear, open their ears, hearts, and minds. Amen