What is the job of the ears? Listening and hearing, right? I found two verses in Job that I thought were interesting because of comparison that was made.

Job 12:11 – Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes food?
Job 34:3 – For the ear tests words as the tongue tastes food.

When we place a piece of food in our mouth, our tongue determines if it is sweet, salty, or something else. But how do our ears test words? Could this refer our ears hearing words and testing them to determine if they are sweet, salty, or otherwise? What does it take to test the words that we hear? Do our ears ever need to test the words we hear that we speak?

Let’s move to the book of Psalms.

Psalm 115:6 – They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell.
Psalm 135:17 – They have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths.

Do these verses mean that they physically cannot hear from their ears? Of course not. Just as Zechariah 7:11 says: But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. They chose to close their ears – to not hear and listen.

In Matthew 13:15, Jesus says:  For this people’s heart has become calloused;    they hardly hear with their ears,    and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears,    understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them. How does a heart become calloused or hardened?

Sometimes children accuse their parents of not listening to them. Is that always true? Do parents sometimes close their ears to a child’s repetitive requests or whining? Think about God and that we are His children. How terrifying that God would ever close his ears to our requests. In Lamentations 3:56, we read: You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.”

In Proverbs 20:12, we read: Ears that hear and eyes that see – the Lord has made them both. So if God made ears that hear, how to they become closed? When people let their hearts become hard, their eyes also close to those around them and to God.

We need to remember that ears are a gift from God. God gave us ears to hear and eyes to see. But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. (Matthew 13:16)

My challenge for all of us this week is to remember that our ears and eyes are a blessing from God and to use them for the gifts that they are. Pay attention to what you hear and how you choose to determine how to use those words – and share those words with others.

You probably have figured out what the next post will be about: Face, eyes, ears, and next…mouths!