When Jesus was speaking in parables to the people in Matthew 13, He said this to them in verse 9:
9 He who has ears [to hear], let him be listening and let him consider and perceive and comprehend by hearing.
A choice and additional action is required in order to understand, (perceive, comprehend) the Truth that is hidden in these parables! With the things of God, there is ALWAYS a choice that must be made! Nothing promised in the Word of God comes automatically! The Sovereign God set it up this way! Why? Because He CHOSE to! He did NOT want robots, or He would have made them! He desires that we CHOOSE to receive what He has already provided for us! When Jesus was asked why He spoke in parables, this was His answer. Verses 11-15:
11 And He replied to them, To you it has been given to know the secrets and mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For whoever has [spiritual knowledge], to him will more be given and he will be furnished richly so that he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is the reason that I speak to them in parables: because having the power of seeing, they do not see; and having the power of hearing, they do not hear, nor do they grasp and understand. 14 In them indeed is the process of fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, which says: You shall indeed hear and hear but never grasp and understand; and you shall indeed look and look but never see and perceive. 15 For this nation's heart has grown gross (fat and dull), and their ears heavy and difficult of hearing, and their eyes they have tightly closed, lest they see and perceive with their eyes, and hear and comprehend the sense with their ears, and grasp and understand with their heart, and turn and I should heal them.
Only born again believers in Jesus Christ, who have the Spirit of God living in them, are able to understand the Word of God! We are, of all people, MOST BLESSED! Look at verses 16-17:
16 But blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are your eyes because they do see, and your ears because they do hear. 17 Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men [men who were upright and in right standing with God] yearned to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
It has been given to US to be able to know the Word of God! To understand it, speak it, stand in faith on it, and receive the promises in it! BUT, this is ONLY our POTENTIAL! The choice is up to US! AMEN! Choose wisely! Here is Hillsong with an older song called "More To See":
Shalom in Him!
