When the Deer Ate My Wife’s Garden

The Spirit of the LORD speaks by me; his word is on my tongue. The God of Israel has spoken; the Rock of Israel has said to me. . . 2 Samuel 23:2

Several weeks ago, my wife was dismayed to find that the deer had discovered her raised garden beds, eating almost everything, even climbing up in the beds themselves. So, with a greatly irritated wife, I set out to do something about our deer infestation. Searching online, I found motion detectors, which, when triggered, apparently emit a high-pitched beep and flashing lights. I say apparently, because I can’t hear them. My kids can though. While out grilling yesterday, I triggered one of the motion detectors which began flashing its lights, causing my daughter to recoil and cover her ears. I thought she was pretending. What noise? She, on the other hand, thought I must be joking. You can’t hear that? I heard nothing.

My wife and kids have been pestering me about this for a while. They think I’m losing my hearing. I know however, that they’re all just talking softer than normal. I honestly think my hearing isn’t that bad, but they insist that I miss a lot of what’s being said. It’s possible that they’re right, in which case my refusal to be evaluated is a choice to continue hearing poorly. Not everyone can do something about their hearing loss, but I can. So, when I refuse to do so, that’s on me.

Likewise, my spiritual hearing is my responsibility. In today’s passage, King David claimed to hear God. He doesn’t say whether it was an audible voice or not, but David clearly believed that God spoke to him. Some may think he was a nut, but I believe that God can and does speak to us. In fact, I’d say God is almost always speaking, trying to communicate with us. The amount we comprehend though is wildly variable, with some of us clearly hearing while others remain completely deaf to God’s word.

Like my hearing problem, our spiritual receptivity is our responsibility. If we spend a lot of time with God, seeking his will, and obeying him, we’ll improve our spiritual hearing, growing it like an exercised muscle. If, however, we don’t read the Bible, don’t pray, and don’t follow him, we’ll remain deaf to his word. God is a person and as such, we can know him very little, or we can know him a lot. Whether we hear him speak then, is largely up to us.

If I refuse to get hearing aids, I will continue to hear poorly. Likewise, if I just live my own life, refusing to get to know and follow God, I will continue to be deaf to his word. My hearing – My choice and my responsibility.