LET THIS SINK IN
“Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.” Luke 9:44
In this verse, Jesus is alerting the disciples to pay close attention to His upcoming announcement. This declaration was of supreme importance, having to do with His coming appointment with betrayal and death at Calvary. There was no information more important to receive and remember than this. He prefaces His disclosure with the words, “Let these sayings sink down into your ears.” He was asking them to give Him their undivided attention. He wanted them to listen clearly and deliberately, not carelessly and casually. Jesus knew how difficult it would be for the disciples to understand and accept what was in the future for Him. In spite of Jesus’ repeated declarations of His pending death, the disciples never really comprehended what was going to happen.
We all have this tendency not to listen as closely as we should at times. I know that I have found myself not listening as carefully as I should have been, and later regretted it. This underscores the importance of deliberate listening. “Selective listening” is a term that might describe our hearing habits. We listen more carefully to some things because we have a greater interest in the subject or the speaker. But we listen less intently to things we may not be as concerned about. I have been amazed at times when it is obvious that people are keenly concentrating on some report of scandal or misfortune, but seem unconcerned when hearing about some great doctrinal truth.
We need to learn to discipline ourselves to be good listeners, especially when it comes to the Word of God and matters of eternal significance. The mind is a great gift from God, but we are responsible to keep it focused on the things it needs to hear. We cannot afford to miss the messages God has for us through His Word and through those He has stationed to teach it to us. It is our responsibility to remove distractions and resist the tendency to allow our minds to wander. There may be times when it is especially hard to hear, perhaps because it is something we have never heard before or something that we do not want to know, or even something that contradicts what we have previously believed. When God speaks to us from His Word, we need to “Let these sayings sink down into your ears.”