God still speaks to his people today. And he speaks as clearly as he did in the Old Testament, or to the apostles, or to the early church. Yet we must realize one thing: God chooses to speak only to those who have ears to hear.
Mark tells us Christ “taught them many things by parables” (Mark 4:2). In this passage, Jesus tells the parable of the man who sows seed in a field. Yet when he finished the story, the crowds were baffled and wondered, “Who is this sower he is describing? And what does the seed represent?”
Jesus did not explain it to them; instead, Scripture says, “He said to them, ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (4:9). Only the disciples and a few others wanted answers, so they came to Jesus afterward, asking the meaning of the parable: “When he was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable” (4:10). Then Christ took time to answer all their concerns (see 4:14-20).
Let’s look at what was happening here. Jesus had given the crowd revelation truth, a word spoken directly from God’s mouth, yet it puzzled them. You may wonder why Jesus did not explain the parable more clearly at the beginning, but I believe he was saying, “If you want to understand my Word, you are going to have to pursue me for the answer. Come to me with a hunger for truth that will set you free and I will give you all the revelation you need.”
I can imagine that when a majority of the crowd that day went home, their neighbors crowded around, eager to hear what Jesus had said. “Tell us all you learned,” they urged. And while they might have been able to recite the parables, their words would have been dead, lifeless, with no life-changing power. It was the ones who stayed behind, who lingered in his presence, who received Christ’s life-changing revelation.
Are you willing to wait on Christ in order to receive his secrets? Give up your comforts to do whatever is necessary to train your ear to hear his voice.