Jeremiah 6:10; Acts 7:51
(All Scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated)
Sometimes ears need operations (surgeries)! From the website of Westchester Medical Center Health Network (wmchealthaps.com/ear-surgery-and-procedures #Acoustic%20 Neuroma), here are a few instances where ear surgeries are beneficial:
- “A cochlear implant is a specialized technology that allows individuals with severe to profound hearing loss to hear and understand sound. The cochlear implant electrically stimulates nerve cells in the inner ear (cochlea), which then sends a signal up the hearing nerve to the brain.”
- “While earwax is a healthy and normal part of the ear canal, excessive, impacted, or hard earwax can cause pain, pressure, earache, dizziness, and other adverse symptoms.”
- “Also known as ‘surfer’s ear,‘ exostoses is a slow-progressing disease that results from routine exposure to a combination of cold air and water. The exposure causes the bone of the ear canal to overgrow, constricting and in some cases causing the ear canal to become totally blocked.”
- “For individuals with vertigo from Ménière’s disease….Surgery can either stabilize inner ear function…or eliminate sensory information from transmitting from the inner ear to the brain….”
There are a lot more instances where ear surgeries are helpful and/or needed. On the above-mentioned website, twenty-seven are listed! But one that is not mentioned is ‘ear circumcision’! I’m sure that those who are reading this Gem know what circumcision means – It is the surgical procedure for the removal of the foreskin of the male organ. So what do I mean by ‘ear circumcision’? You may get an indication of the meaning from our two featured Scriptures:
- Jeremiah 6:10 – “To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Indeed their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of the LORD is a reproach to them; they have no delight in it.”
- Acts 7:51 through 53 – This Scripture records the end of Stephen’s sermon to the Sanhedrin (the council of Jewish leaders):
“You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and
ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your
fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did
your fathers not persecute? And they killed those
who foretold the coming of the Just One [the Lord
Jesus Christ], of whom you now have become the be-
trayers and murderers, who have received the law
by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”
So incensed were the members of the Sanhedrin, they
condemned Stephen, and took him out and stoned him to
death! He was the first Christian martyr!
Do you see what uncircumcised ears means? Can you hear what God is saying? Or do you need surgery to correct the condition of uncircumcised ears? (I got creative with the title, and call this Gem ‘Operation EAR!’).
How does God communicate with us?
- He speaks to us through His Word, the Bible!
✞ Mark 12:29 through 31 – Jesus said, “The first
of all the commandments is... ‘...you shall love
the LORD your God with all your heart, and with
all your soul, and with all your mind, and with
all your strength.’ This is the first command-
ment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You
shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
✞ John 14:15 (The Living Bible) – “If you love Me,
obey Me....”
✞ So we can say of Mark 29:30, “...you shall obey
the LORD your God with all your heart, and with
all your soul, and with all your mind, and with
all your strength.”
Have you heard this command? Do you heed this command?
- He speaks to us sometimes in “…a still small voice.” (see I Kings 19:12).
✡ Isaiah 30:21 – “Your ears shall hear a word be-
hind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’
whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever
you turn to the left.” The context of this verse
is when Israel will be experiencing the Millen-
nial Kingdom. But God has given us the Holy
Spirit to dwell within us, to guide Christians
today!
✞ John 16:13 – “...when He, the Spirit of truth,
has come, He will guide you into all truth; for
He will not speak on His own authority, but what-
ever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you
things to come.”
✞ Acts 16:6 and 7 – Paul, Silas, and Timothy “...
were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the
word in Asia....they tried to go into Bythinia,
but the Spirit did not permit them.”
✞ I John 2:27 – “But the anointing [the Holy Spir-
it] which you have received from Him abides in
you, and you do not need that anyone teach you;
but as the same anointing teaches you concerning
all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and
just as it has taught you, you will abide in
Him.”
- He speaks at times through other people, especially fellow believers!
✡ Proverbs 15:22 – “Without counsel, plans go
awry, but in the multitude of counselors
they are established.”
✞ Luke 2:15 – “So it was, when the angels had
gone away from them into heaven, that the
shepherds said one to another, ‘Let us now go
to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come
to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.’”
✞ Acts 15:32 – “Now Judas and Silas, themselves
being prophets also, exhorted the brethren with
many words and strengthened them.”
- Especially in Islamist countries, God is using visions and dreams to bring Muslims unto Him, and to direct believers as they witness in dangerous situations!
Why don’t we hear what God is saying to us?
- We may be too busy planning our own agenda! Life is busy and often we are too busy to hear the Lord because we are trying to make plans for the future and to manage the present!
✡ We need to heed what the writers of the
Psalms tell us:
➔ Psalm 27:14 – “Wait on the LORD; be of
good courage, and He shall strengthen
your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD!”
➔ Psalm 46:10 – “Be still, and know that
I am God....”
✞ Do our prayers consist more of telling God our
agenda or are we listening to Him? If God speaks
would we even hear Him?
- In all these instances where so many people are not in tune with the Lord……their ears need to be circumcised!
✡ Under the old covenant of the Jewish law, cir-
cumcision was the sign that the people were
God’s people, ready to abide by His laws!
He who is born in your house and he who
is bought with your money must be circumc-
ised, and My covenant shall be in your
flesh for an everlasting covenant. And
the uncircumcised male child, who is not
circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin,
that person shall be cut off from his peo-
ple; he has broken My covenant. (Genesis
17:13, 14).
So the uncircumcised person would be excluded from
Israel and Israel’s God! He could not be near the
LORD, and so could not hear Him!
By the way, it was a male-dominated society at that time, so the male bore the token of the covenant in his flesh for his whole family.
What about uncircumcised ears?
✡ In Jeremiah’s Old Testament time, the Jews
refused to hear and obey God, who had called
them to obedience so many times through the
years by the prophets He sent unto them.
Their ears were “...uncircumcised and they
cannot give heed. Behold, the word of the
LORD is a reproach to them; they have no
delight in it.”
✞ In Stephen’s New Testament time, the Jews,
especially those in leadership (the Pharisees,
the Sadducees, and the Scribes), did not ac-
cept what the Son of God was bringing them,
“...[eternal] life, and [life] more abundant-
ly.” (John 10:10). They refused to hear, so
their ears (as well as their hearts) were
uncircumcised!
✞ If...
➔ ...one is not born again, his or her
ears are naturally uncircumcised! As
it says in I Corinthians 2:14 (Contem-
porary English Version), “That's why
only someone who has God's Spirit can
understand spiritual blessings. Anyone
who doesn't have God's Spirit thinks
these blessings are foolish.”
So to begin the surgery of Operation EAR (to
have your ears circumcised), you must accept
Jesus Christ as your Savior!
➔ ...Christian, if you are not in tune with
God, hearing and obeying Him, plead with
the Lord to make you willing (see Philip-
pians 2:13) to submit to Operation EAR,
the surgery necessary to open the neces-
sary path to truly communicate with the
Lord!
Let God circumcise the foreskin of your ears!