FROM THE PULPIT: THE PROS AND CONS OF EARPLUGS

I have a set of earplugs. My earplugs are some of the most useful things I have. They protect my hearing when I mow the lawn. They help shut out distractions when I need to pray or study.

My earplugs could also be a hindrance, if I let them. I could use them to shut people out. If I wanted to wear them when my wife wanted to speak with me, that would be a problem! Or if I left them in all the time, I would miss a lot of sounds I would like or need to hear; birds singing in the early morning, a Beethoven symphony, a siren while I'm driving -- fire or ambulance, of course, because I don't speed!

I do recommend wearing earplugs during your daily devotional time alone. They do help you focus on the Bible, on your praying, on God himself and hearing his voice.

But especially I want to point out a human tendency that we all have difficulty with. We often shut God out. We allow the "riches and cares of this world" (Matthew 13:22) to act as spiritual earplugs, making us deaf to God's voice. We allow pride or the desire to have our own way to help us conveniently ignore God's will, even sometimes when we know better. "But they refused to pay attention (to God's Law); stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears." (Zechariah 7:11)

Certainly, we all make mistakes, but let's not make the huge mistake of hardening our hearts and stopping up our ears to God. For, "your work is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path." (Psalms 119:105) God's Word is "living and active," (Hebrews 4:12), able to teach and train us (2 Timothy 3:16 ), the means through which we are born again (1 Peter 1:23), and His Words are Spirit and Life to all who hear Him. (John 6:63)