Otherwise

2006-7-30 Wise and Otherwise Game Pieces
Originally uploaded by JanetandPhil

25They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: "The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet: 26" 'Go to this people and say, "You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving." 27For 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. (Acts 28)

Today what struck me was the latter part of verse 27, but I included the text from verse 25 on to give context to today’s thoughts. Paul had just talked to the crowd in Rome. Some believed and some didn’t. His comments were directed to those who were still holding out, from the prophet Isaiah. They hear, but they don’t hear. They see, but they don’t see.

What kind of conundrum is this?

What Paul was saying was that the Jews who refused to believe were given all the information and tools they needed. But they could not see because they had closed their minds and eyes to the truth. They could not hear because they would not allow themselves to hear the other side. They had allowed their hearts to become calloused.

Their hearts had become hard, inflexible, rigid, dense, resisting the words and arguments Paul made for Christ. He was connecting the dots of the Old and New Testaments for them, along with his personal experience.

So they were calloused. But there’s another word: OTHERWISE. If things were different, says the LORD, they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts. And turn. And God would heal them.

Seeing, not just in the physical sense, but in their spiritual reality. Hearing, not just in the physical, but in their hearts. Understanding, not just what is before them, but the implications in the unseen world of the Spirit, the mind, the emotions, connecting the dots. And turn. From their blindness, their deafness, their resistance, their sinfulness. To God. He in turn would heal them. Of the evil controlling them. Of their inability to see, hear, understand, and love.

How do we do this today? How do we keep an open heart? Spending time in the Word, prayer, fellowship. Practicing forgiveness, mercy, and love. Time with God, who heals us.

LORD, may we be men and women with open and sensitive hearts. Hearts that see, hear, and understand Your words to us. May we see with new eyes, hear with new ears, and understand with new hearts the truth of the gospel. Then may we honor You in all we are and in all we do.