Deaf and Staying by Choice

Ever notice that hearing can be turned on or off, at will? I think it was Charles Swindoll, years ago, who related the following synopsis. In the stillness of the night, a mother, who normally sleeps soundly, can hear the cry of her little baby. She jumps out of bed and like a speeding bullet is at the crib ready for the early morning feeding. All along, the father, in the same room, sleeps undisturbed. He is oblivious that his wife has been up several times in the night.

What is the difference? Both have the same ability to hear. The maternal instinct of the mother is sharpened to when the slightest movement in the crib brings her jolting out of bed. She slept with one ear open, while her husband slept with both ears closed. He was deaf by choice.

And men seem to have that unique capacity. A wife tells her husband something, and hours later he insists she never said it or he never heard it. The truth is, he didn’t. He was deaf by choice. His wife’s voice and persistent speech go in the proverbial “one ear and out the other” never making contact with the brain. (Of course, I might add, this phenomenon never happens to me. Ha!)

Here’s a power-packed punch of a question. If Jesus told us to “go,” why are you staying? Go! Which part of the word do you not understand? Let’s put the go back into the “Gospel.”

If going was God’s divine distribution plan, it seems like it’s not working very well.

“Most people would be willing to go…but are planning on staying. We need folks who are planning on going…but are willing to stay” (Steve Shadrach, Goer, Sender, Mobilizer, and Welcomer).

William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, once said:

“‘Not called!’ did you say?

‘Not heard the call,’ I think you should say.

“Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father’s house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face — whose mercy you have professed to obey — and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.”

Keith Green, in his final message, before his death in a plane crash admonished, “You don’t know how many people I’ve met who have said to me, I agree that more people need to go to the mission field, but I’ve never heard God tell me to go. Well, the truth is that God has already told you to go in His Word. In fact, He commands you to “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15) ….In fact, if you don’t go, you need a specific calling from God to stay home. Has God definitely told you not to ‘go’ somewhere outside your country to preach the Gospel? If He hasn’t, then you’d better start praying where to go, instead of if you should go.” Don’t end up being deaf by choice!

~James Poitras, Director of Short-Term Missions
January 19, 2021