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Zechariah wrote (in 7:11) about a people so determined to ignore what God was saying to them that they "put their fingers in their ears." God gave Isaiah a message to deliver to a people whose hearts had become hardened and rebellious beyond repentance. So a fed-up God made the punishment fit the crime. He decreed that even when they heard they wouldn't learn anything. However, when Jesus quoted this prophecy to his disciples, he put a positive as well as a negative take on it.

Matthew 13:9-17

1. What reason (v. 27) did Jesus give for not worrying about our needs?
   
   
2. What did Jesus observe (vv. 26-30) about the welfare of birds and flowers?
   
   
3. What conclusions about worrying (vv. 26 & 30) did Jesus draw from this?
   
   
4. What (vv. 31-32) should distinguish Jesus followers from the unbelievers around them?
   
   
5. What frees them up to be different?
   
   
6. What is promised in verse 33? What must we do to receive this promise?
   
   
7. What does verse 34 tell us about daily struggles? Why do you think Jesus ended his words on worry with these sobering thoughts?
   
   

Three times in this passage, Jesus told his disciples not to worry. Ask God for the resolve to treat this as a command rather than take-it-or-leave-it advice.

Matthew 13:9-17

9 "Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand."

10 His disciples came and asked him, "Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?"

11 He replied, "You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. 12 To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. 13 That is why I use these parables,

For they look, but they don't really see.
They hear, but they don't really listen or understand.

14 This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says,

'When you hear what I say,
you will not understand.
When you see what I do,
you will not comprehend.
15 For the hearts of these people are hardened,
and their ears cannot hear,
and they have closed their eyes—
so their eyes cannot see,
and their ears cannot hear,
and their hearts cannot understand,
and they cannot turn to me
and let me heal them.'"

16 "But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. 17 I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn't see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn't hear it.

Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Teach me, Lord, how to tune out distractions and to pick out and respond to the voice of Your Spirit.

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