Proverbs 20:12 vs Reality

0:00Looking at our world from a theological perspective, this is the Theology Central podcast, making theology central. Good afternoon, and I cannot promise you it's going to be a good afternoon by the time we are done because it's about to get very uncomfortable, but that's sometimes what we have to do, especially if we're going to make theology central. But before we get to all of that, let me say, well, it is Saturday, so welcome everyone. It is Saturday, March the 7th, 2026. It is currently 11 p.m. central time, and I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abling, Texas. Now, it's been crazy here in the studio, what, around four in the morning, we got a... There was no warning, there was no indicator, there was no nothing that we were going to... I knew that we were going to get a chance for rain, but there was no warning issue, no

1:03watches issued, nothing indicating a severe storm, nothing at all, all right? So I'm here, it's about four o'clock in the morning, I start hearing the thunder, I check the radar, I'm like, oh, well, okay, I think that's going to kind of slide to our north. I think we're going to be okay. I'm looking at all the different models, I'm like, everything is going to be okay, and then all of a sudden, I mean, it felt like I thought the house was going to be ripped off its foundation, the wind just started going crazy, everything, and then I heard that sound. Night of water, but of hellstones falling, and I was like, oh, my goodness, my new car, It was still new to me, sitting in the driveway. What do I do? So I ran down and I'm like, the garage. And I'm like, I can't get anything in the garage because we still got all kinds of junk right there. I'm like, I can't get into the garage. I can't get into the garage. And what am I going to do? What am I going to do? And so I'm like, you know what?

2:06I don't have any shoes on. I don't have a shirt on. I don't care. I grabbed the keys. I ran immediately outside, jumped in the car and just started driving as fast as I could out of my residential area. I got to the stop sign, I ran the stop sign, which straight down there, I ran the light and then got under the underpass. And then right under the underpass, there's this big area under the underpass that I could just kind of drive up on the curb and I kind of got under the underpass. No longer the hell was no longer hitting the car. And the wind at times was making the car. I thought I was going to get flipped over. But I sat there going, oh man. Okay, okay, and I waited and I waited and I waited and I waited and then finally I drive back thinking, man, if a cop was to pull me over, I have no shirt, I have no shoes, I don't have a driver's license, I don't have anything. What am I doing? So I got the car finally back home and everything was safe.

3:08It was a crazy morning. So I was like, okay, so what do I do today? All right, everything is calm now. So what do I do? Well, here in the studio, I sat down and I'm like, well, I need to work on this. I need to work on this and I do something. Well, I typically do. In fact, I do quite often. I was simply scrolling through the new sermon section of sermonaudio.com. I spend a lot of my day doing that. A lot of my evening, a lot of my late night, a lot of my early morning because I like to see what passages pastors are preaching on. See what a lot of people do? They look at the new sermon feed and they look for sermons. I look at the sermon, but I wanna know, what's the passage they're preaching on? Oh, look at that, look at that. In fact, earlier today, there was like, I don't know, seven, eight sermons, maybe nine sermons on I think Daniel chapter 12, I can't remember. One of the chapters in the book of Daniel,

4:08I'm like, that's crazy. I'm like, there's a lot of people preaching on Daniel right now. Okay, maybe I will start looking into those sermons. Are they from different sources? All the same source, what's going on? But I look at the passages, right? Now the reason I look at the passages is because I like to see what passages are being preached, but I also like to see what themes are a period. Do I see a certain theme? I like to see what text, churches, and pastors are handling. And the reason I do this is, I mean, it's obvious. I mean, I have a podcast called Theology Central. Sometimes it gives me ideas for sermons to review. Most of the time though, it sparks my own theological questions, right? I'll see the passage and I'll start thinking, oh, well, we could ask this question about that passage or this passage, or in some cases, I'll just start grabbing a Bible and I'm like, you know what? I'll start working on the passage on my own and I may even completely forget about the sermon.

5:09Sometimes it just reminds me of a passage that I haven't even thought about at a long time. So I will just look at that and all kinds of things, sometimes entire series can arise from me just looking at the new sermons and going, wait, that passage, that's an interesting passage. But this time, something else happened. In fact, it felt like all of a sudden, as soon as I saw the passage, it went from nice skies to oh, some dark clouds, to some thunder, well, it's just a little bit of rain until all of a sudden, I started hearing the hellstones falling and I know you're not gonna perceive it that way when I tell you what the passage is, you're gonna be like, yeah, so whatever, but no, not this time. Because I saw a sermon based on the book of Proverbs chapter 20 verse 12. Now, the name of the sermon is the hearing ear

6:10and the seeing eye, the hearing ear and the seeing eye. Now, I know, I know, I know, I know on the surface, it doesn't sound controversial, it doesn't sound difficult, in fact, it sounds simple, almost poetic, almost like, oh, a nice rain. Oh, I like the sound of rain. I love it, but it's not gonna sound like a thunderstorm, it's not gonna sound like hellstones to you. In fact, here's the words, right? Let me read it to you. I'm gonna read it from two different translations. Proverbs chapter 20 verse 12. Ear's to hear and eyes to see both are gifts from the Lord. Ear's to hear eyes to see both are gifts from the Lord. The Lord, let me read it in a different translation. The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord have made even both of them.

7:16No, you don't hear hellstones? No, no, no, no, just a nice rain, relaxing. You're gonna sit back, oh, what a beautiful verse. So poetic, it touches my heart. Nothing at all. Nothing controversial to you. Again, the hearing ear, the seeing eye, the Lord have made even both of them. I mean, it's a simple proverb. It's a short statement. Maybe you just see it as a simple observation, but the moment I saw Proverbs chapter 20 verse 12, wow, I heard hellstones. Because if we actually take this verse seriously, it should raise some questions. That are deeply uncomfortable. I think it raises some questions, sermons are not gonna deal with. It's gonna raise some questions that you're not gonna talk about in small group, Sunday school, because I think about this,

8:16the proverb says, the hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both, God made hearing, God made sight. And the moment I read that verse, I thought, well, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. What about the ears that cannot hear? What about the eyes that cannot see? Because the moment you ask that question, you run into something, something that I think the church loves to ignore, and that is reality. And I've said it a million times, if your theology cannot account for, if your theology does not acknowledge, if your theology does not see and speak of and preach to reality, then your theology is nothing more than a Disney fantasy. When it comes to theology, reality

9:16should be very much a part of our theology. So many times skeptics and agnostics and atheists will accuse Christians as you just live in some delusion. You know, you won't accept reality. You won't see reality, and I think theology should be the, theology should be the thing that forces us to face reality. And we try to understand our theology in light of reality. We don't deny it, we don't ignore it, we have to, we have to, we have to speak to it. So I couldn't ignore the reality. In fact, the reality to me is not just small hellstones. It's that softball-sized hellstone that smashes through the windshield of your car or destroys the roof of your home and kills cattle. Because the reality is ugly. Every year in our world, somewhere between 135 to 140 million babies are born, again, depending on where you look for your statistics. Medical research consistently shows that between one

10:19and three are one and three out of every 1,000 babies that are born. All right, so I want you to hear this. Medical research consistently shows that between one and three out of every 1,000 babies are born, they are born with permanent hearing loss. So one and three out of every 1,000 babies that are born, they are born with permanent hearing loss. God made hearing, but yet one and three out of every 1,000 babies that are born, babies that are born, are born with permanent hearing loss. That means somewhere between 200,000 and 400,000 children are born deaf every single year. Every single year, somewhere between 200,000 and 400,000 children are born deaf every year. Again, I try to make it. I try to add a little bit of variation there because again, depending on where you're looking for statistics and trying to get the best information possible. But the point is everyone knows every single year,

11:20thousands upon thousands of children are born deaf. Just think about that. Well, we, well, while I'm recording an episode, I was gonna say we, but I'm the one doing the recording. You're doing the, well, while you're listening and while I'm recording, somewhere in the world, a child is being born who will never, ever, ever hear their mother's voice, what is tragic to me. They're never going to hear music. They're never gonna hear laughter. They're never even going to hear someone say, I love you. That's just hearing, what about sight? Well, blindness may be some, in some cases, it may be more rare for a child to be born blind, but it still happens tens of thousands of times every year. Estimates suggest somewhere between 40,000 to 80,000 babies are born blind annually worldwide. That means somewhere in the world a child is born

12:23who will never see a sunrise, never see the sky, never see the face of a parent, never see a smile, never, I'm just, never see so many different things. And I want you to think about that reality because the proverb says, the hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both and yet every single year, hundreds of thousands of children are born unable to hear. Tens of thousands are born unable to see that look, I'm not being philosophical. I'm not even being hypothetical. I'm speaking about actual factual reality. So what do you do with a verse like this? So I'm gonna do what I, only thing I know to do, we're gonna slow down. I say that every single time. We're gonna study this proverb is carefully, and I'm gonna use the interpretive framework that I've been trying to get everyone to learn in 2026.

13:23I haven't heard a lot of feedback about it, but I want you to know and want you to use and consider the five layers of reading scripture approach, that framework, the five layers. We have an entire series on the five layers, but the five layers are showing up and everything we do and every series, the five layers is showing up, I'm utilizing the five layers. I don't know if people are catching on. I'm not trying, sometimes I'm saying, here's layer number one, here's layer number two. Sometimes I'm just utilizing the framework, but I'm gonna try to use the framework for Proverbs, chapter 20, verse 12. Let me read it to you again. I'm reading it from two different translations. Ears to hear and eyes to see both are gifts from the Lord. Proverbs, chapter 20, verse 12, the hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord have made even both of them. So I'm not gonna ignore reality. And when I don't ignore reality, a lot of times that ticks off Christians, but I don't care. If Christians want to live in denial of reality, then go have your fake Christianity,

14:25but I think true Christianity, biblical Christianity, scriptural Christianity, theological Christianity, will not ignore reality, but will face it no matter how uncomfortable it makes us. And even if it leaves us with a lot of questions, we cannot answer. So here we go, layer number one. Proverbs, chapter 20, verse 12, five layers. Here's layer number one. Boundary, structure, and genre. Boundary, structure, and genre. You should know these five layers by now, have only repeated them 557,000 times in 2026. Okay, that's a little bit of hyperbole, but I have repeated them frequently, all right? Boundary, structure, and genre, all right? Here we go. I think the first thing we have to ask when we look at the Proverbs, chapter 20, verse 12, is what kind of text are we reading? The verse appears where, obviously in the book of Proverbs.

15:27This is wisdom literature. This is wisdom literature. Everyone should know that, all right? And I think that matters. I don't think, and I think it's fair to say this, and you may want to argue with me, but I think I can prove this just based off the genre of literature we're reading. We're reading wisdom literature. They're not written like a theological thesis. It's not like a treatise on a theological point. It's not written like a systematic argument. They're short sayings that make observations about life in God's world. I think that's a good way of describing it. And if you look at the surrounding verses in Proverbs, chapter 20, just look in verse 10. Divers, weights, and divers, measures, both of them are like abomination to the Lord. Divers, weights, and divers, measures,

16:29both of them are like abominations to the Lord. If I look at a different translation, false weights, and unequal measures, the Lord detests double standards of every kind. Now, he's simply, here, it's very simple. It's very straightforward. This is speaking about dishonest weights and business. Using dishonest means and business. It's very practical. It's very literal. It's very to the point. Look at verse 11. Proverbs, so Proverbs, chapter 20, verse 10, we're dealing with false weights, unequal measures. And it's an abomination. God does not, God detest this kinds of thing. He wants honesty, all right? Very simple, very straightforward. Verse 11, I'll read it from this translation. Every children, or even children, are known by the way they act,

17:29whether they're conduct is pure, and whether it is right. Proverbs, chapter 20, verse 11, in a different translation, even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right. Now, this speaks about a child's being, a child being known by his actions. Very simple, very straightforward, very literal, and very practical. You have very literal things, false weights, dishonest measures. The behavior of a child. Very simple, very straightforward. Look at verse 13. Love not sleep, less thou come to poverty, open thine eyes, and thou should be satisfied with bread. Look at Proverbs, chapter 20, verse 13, in a different translation. If you love sleep, you're gonna end up in poverty. Keep your eyes open, and there will be plenty to eat. Very simple, very straightforward. It's warning you about loving sleep,

18:29about being lazy, and so you'll end up becoming poor. Open your eyes and do something. It's very simple, very straightforward, and very practical. So that means in verse 12, we're not, this not doesn't turn into some kind of metaphorical, theological treatise on conversion. It's very simple. Ears to hear, and eyes to see, both are gifts from the Lord. All right, so immediately you should be able to see that this is presenting very short, very practical observations about reality. That means we should be careful, very careful, not to treat this proverb as though it was trying to answer every philosophical question about suffering or disability, because it doesn't even try to answer that. But I also know what you're to spiritualize it. Ooh, see, eyes and ears, and we turn it into some kind of spiritual thing. Know this talking about literal eyes and literal ears,

19:30that literally I see and literally hear. It's very literal, and God is the one who made them. It's very simple, very straightforward. Now, a lot of times sermons will turn this into either eyes and ears is some kind of some spiritual ability, and they'll try to cross-reference it with things in Isaiah or maybe Jeremiah. And I think that's not what this passage is doing. Others will say, ooh, eyes and ears, God made both, so the eyes and ears are proof of a designer, and therefore this is proof of God's existence. Now, let's talk about the design of the eye and the design of the ear, and we'll see our wonderful, powerful God who made both. And all of that will ignore the reality that I've already pointed out to you about the millions who don't have eyes and ears that work. So, the observation here is very straightforward.

20:31It may not deal with all of these problems, but it's gonna make us face these problems. Human beings possess remarkable facilities, or facilities. Human beings possess remarkable faculties as the way I've written it down, not facilities, but human beings possess remarkable faculties, hearing and sight. Now, I wrote that down and immediately I scratched it out and I'm like, no, no, some humans possess remarkable faculties, hearing and sight, because not all do. Millions don't. So, some humans possess remarkable faculties. And if you possess ears that hear and eyes that see, God made them great for you, that's awesome for us. That's great, I can, on my eyes, I'm reading, right?

21:33On my notes that I have written down, my eyes can see them, I can hear myself talk, I can hear sounds outside my window, I can hear the hellstones last night knowing that my car was in danger. That's wonderful, and God made them, all right? So, human, some human beings, some possess remarkable faculties, hearing and sight. And this proverb attributes those faculties to God, all right? So, that's layer number one. That gives just a little bit of the boundary, a little bit of the structure, a little bit of the genre, all right? We could break it down a little bit more. I mean, you can see the way it works. You have eye ears here, I see. I mean, we could break it down, we could get into how it's structured, but for the basic part, you see, you have ears to hear, eyes to see, both come from God, all right? The hearing ear and the seeing eye,

22:36I mean, it's spoken of the eye, what do eyes do? They see, what do ears do, ears do? They hear, it's spoken of almost like a, it's a given, the ear is going to hear the eyes going to see them, both were made by God. All right, we could talk more there, but for time's sake, let's move to layer number two. Let's consider the voice in the historical situation. You know this. The voice of the Proverbs comes from Israel's wisdom tradition. We've already identified it as wisdom literature, and we know who wisdom is associated with. None other than our good friend Solomon, right? And we've talked about Solomon in so many different ways. I don't want to get into all of that. The audience is typically seen as the learner, the student, the young person, being instructed and wisdom, right? So in the ancient world, I think this is important.

23:36Hearing and seeing at least in part went beyond just mere biological facts. There were the primary means by which people learned, received instruction and navigated life. So in an oral culture, right? Hearing was essential. That's how you were going to learn, right? Because things were taught from an oral perspective because you didn't have the ability, paper, and all, hear this and books, and no, it was people were going to speak and you were going to learn that way. So hearing was essential to even understanding in that case, right? And I'm not saying that there weren't ever exceptions, but I'm saying for the most part within this culture, that would be the case, right? So wisdom was passed down by listening, seeing likewise and seeing, especially in this culture, was tied to discernment. You recognize something you can make a judgment. So the proverb reminds the learner of something basic but profound,

24:36the very faculties that allows you to perceive the world. They are not self-generated, they are gifts from God. So the variability to gain wisdom, which would be from listening, the ability to discern and make judgment based on what you see, all of that you did not make, you did not generate yourself, it comes from God. So it really wants to drive home this point. Your physical ability obviously is very essential for you to gain wisdom and to discern and to judge. The two are very much linked together, especially in that culture, right? Because there are a lot of ways to work around some of these disabilities, but if you have this, then you have the ability, not just to hear physically, not just to see physically, but to also possibly hear and gain wisdom and to be able to see so that you can make, well, have discernment and make right judgment, all right? So that's kind of the voice and the historical situation.

25:38Now, layer number three, let's do a little bit of work on observation, language and meaning, all right? Now, look closely, again, at the way it's worded. The proverb does not simply say the ear and the eye, and I think that's important. It doesn't just simply say, ear, eye, both are made from God. It doesn't just say, here's the ear, here's the eye. No, no, no, no, no, no, look at the language. The hearing ear, the seeing eye, it's emphasizing the function, not just the part of the anatomy, it's not just like there's the eye, there's the ear. No, no, no, no, it's the hearing ear, it's the seeing eye. So it's speaking of its capacity to well function properly, to perceive. So God is the source, not just of the physical instrument, right, are the physical anatomy, right? The ear and the eye, he is also the source of your ability

26:41to hear and to see, your ability to hear, your ability to see, your ability in a sense to interact with the world, it all comes from God. But now here's where the tension returns, right? If God made the hearing ear, if God made the seeing eye, which is what the text clearly says, then once again, we're left with the same question. What about the hundreds of thousands and millions that are born without those abilities to hear and to see? They did not get a hearing ear, they did not get a seeing eye, they simply got an ear, they simply got an eye, but it doesn't do well what God supposedly gives and Proverbs chapter 20, verse 12. They got the anatomy, they did not get the ability.

27:42Now that question is not forced into the text, all right? I wanna make it very good, some people say, well, you're just trying to force a question where the question shouldn't be, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That is not, I think that's completely being unfair. The question is not forced into the text, the question naturally arises from taking the statement seriously, I'm taking it seriously. God gives a seeing eye and a hearing ear, great. But what about the times he doesn't? And those times are very frequent. So once we ask that question, well, what do we do? I don't know, well, can we, do we find any answers anywhere else? Well, that brings us to Leron number four. Remember what Leron number four is? We look at the canonical and theological placement of the verse.

28:43When we place Proverbs chapter 20, verse 12, let me read it again, ears to hear, eyes to see, both are gifts from the Lord. Let me read it from this translation. The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord, have made even both of them. When we place that verse, maybe alongside other things in the Bible, does the issue become less complex, or does it become more complex? Does it become more comfortable, or does it become less comfortable? Well, what about this verse? The book of Exodus. The book of Exodus chapter four. The book of Exodus chapter four. How about verse 10, Exodus chapter four verse 10?

29:48Moses, and I'm going to read it from two different translations. Moses pleaded with the Lord. Oh, Lord, I'm not very good with words. I never have been, and I'm not now. Even though you have spoken to me, I get tongue tied and my words get tangled. Then the Lord asked Moses, who made a person's mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak here, or do not hear, see, or do not see, is it not I, the Lord? Now go, I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you, and what you say. Oh, my. Are you hearing some hell stones right now? Again, if you can hear Exodus chapter four verse 11, let me read it this way, and the Lord said unto him, who have made man's mouth, or who make a thadam,

30:52or death, or the seeing, or the blind, have not I, the Lord? Now this verse should make you stop and go, oh boy, all right. See, this is why I don't want to listen to the Theology Central podcast anymore, because he makes me feel very uncomfortable, and like I don't know what to think, or what to believe. I know that's exactly what I tend to do, only because I try to take the verses seriously. You see, this verse is striking, because it does not only speak about sight and hearing, it speaks about blindness and deafness, and it places all of the realities under divine sovereignty. God is the one. He determines. Now for some people, and typically it's Christian men,

31:52they'll be say, so what? Some people are born blind, some people are not. Yeah, it's great when you can see. It's great when you can hear. It's wonderful. You get to say praise God. God made the eyes that can see in the ears that can hear, and he also made the ones that don't work. Yay, everything makes sense now. What about? What about Deuteronomy, chapter 29, verse four? Deuteronomy, chapter 29, verse four, all right? But to this day, the Lord has not giving you minds that understand nor eyes that see, nor ears that hear. Yeah, let's go to Deuteronomy.

32:53This may lead us to even more uncomfortableness. What is going on in Deuteronomy 29, all right? I'm gonna look at verse, I'm gonna go back to verse one, and I'm gonna read in a different translation. These are the words of the covenant, which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel and the land of Moab besides the covenant which he made with them in Horep. And Moses called on to all Israel and said unto them, you have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes and the land of Egypt and to Pharaoh and unto all his servants and to all his land. The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs and those great miracles, yet the Lord have not given you a heart to perceive or eyes to see and ears to hear unto this day. Why did Israel not get it? Why did Israel not figure it out? God did not give them eyes and ears to hear and see. Now in this case, in Deuteronomy 29 and 4, it's not talking about literal eyes and literal ears, it's talking about he did not give them the ability

33:55to perceive spiritually. So this makes it even more complicated. Not only is God sovereign over whether you will hear or see or even have eyes that will work or ears that will work, he's sovereign over whether you will perceive or not perceive something in this particular case. Israel, you, you, again, let me read it from this translation. This translation, but to this day, the Lord has not given you minds that understand or eyes that see or ears that hear. Why didn't Israel get it? Well, I don't know. Maybe because God didn't allow them to get it, which raises all kinds of questions about God's sovereignty and how we understand so many things. I mean, that, I mean, does not, I guess, maybe for some, maybe for some people that doesn't bother you, but I think that raises some serious questions, okay? Now again, in Deuteronomy, that's not physical perception,

34:55but it's spiritual understanding. Jeremiah chapter five verse 21, which have eyes and see, not which have ears and hear, not, again, now that's speaking of spiritual eyesight, spiritual hearing, okay? And then we come to John chapter nine. Now this is where a lot of people will go, a lot of people, the church loves to run to John chapter nine because they think, okay, wait a minute, all right? All right, now that whole, you can't perceive spiritually can raise lots of questions about salvation and conversion, okay, so we can get into a whole discussion about that. But what a lot of people, okay, God does make eyes that hear. He does make eyes, or eyes, I'm sorry, eyes that see and ears that hear. Let me state that correctly. God does make eyes that see and ears that hear. However, the Bible seems to indicate he's sovereign over the times he doesn't, but when he does it, he has good reason not to.

35:58And they will run to John chapter nine. John chapter nine, now I'm not gonna read the whole story. You should be able to look at it. John chapter nine, all right. And remember what happens, John chapter nine verse one, Jesus was walking along, along, and he saw a man who had been blind from birth. Now right there just shows you, not everyone is born with eyes that see and ears that hear. All right, his disciples are like, why was this man born blind? Was that because of his own sins or his parents sins? Now, that just shows you that even at that time, they'll, wait a minute, if someone is not born who can see or if someone is not born who can hear, if someone is born with some physical disability, so this had to occur because of someone's sinned, either the parents sinned or this person said, someone's sinned, they immediately want to blame it on sin. They immediately, that's immediately where they go.

37:01Now, Jesus says it was not because of his sins or his parents sins. This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. So what is Jesus doing? He heals this blind man. Now, why does he heal this blind man? Well, he's gonna heal this blind man. Ultimately, to reveal his identity, to reveal his deity. Now, this is very important. What a lot of churches do is like, oh, okay, were you born blind? Were you born deaf? Do you have this disability or this problem? Or did this tragedy strike you down? Well, don't be down because God has done this so that his glory could be manifest. Don't be, hey, it's okay. God did it for his glory. He did it for his purpose. Oh, I'm sorry that you're paralyzed. I'm sorry that this is happening in your life. Don't worry.

38:02God's doing it for his glory. Be happy. Now, that's typically the people who preach that is everything is working good. Now, I just want to make it very clear because this is such a problematic way of handling John chapter nine. This is very important, right? Jesus in John chapter nine is speaking about a very specific man and a very specific event which culminates in a miracle revealing his identity. He is saying, this man. And look, in fact, in fact, I'll go to John chapter nine and this translation, we could even get to some textual issues in John chapter nine. I don't have time to get into all of it. But you can see almost clearly how Jesus describes this. Neither has this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. This man, this man is in this situation at this time

39:05for a very specific purpose, according to God's sovereignty to accomplish what God does and God does, what? He heals this man. But we're like, hey, God may not heal you, but hey, just be, be grateful because you're blind for God's glory. You can't walk for God's glory. You have a terminal disease for God's glory. You do without all these other people around you. Oh, they have this and they have this and you go without, but hey, it's all for God's glory. And somehow that's supposed to be comforting. Well, that's wonderful. I'm so happy. I'm so happy that I get to suffer and I get to do without, well, you don't. Yeah, that's wonderful. Just remember in this particular case, this is not, John chapter nine does not function as a universal explanation for blindness, for suffering everywhere, right? It does not function that way. That man had a specific purpose.

40:05Now, whether you think it's fair, unfair, we do ultimately know he is healed, but Jesus clearly says this man is here for a reason because this man is going to be used for Jesus to do a miracle, to ultimately reveal his identity and show forth his deity. So what do we learn from the Bible? I think we learn, there's several truths that kind of stand side by side. God is the creator of human faculties. That seems to be a factual. Scripture seems to also place disability within the scope of divine sovereignty. I think that, I mean, that seems to be a fact, right? I think, I mean, I don't think we can ignore that in any way shape or form, all right? So God is the creator of human faculties. Scripture places disability within the scope of divine sovereignty. The Bible uses blindness and deafness metaphorically

41:07for spiritual perception and God is even sovereign over that. And the Bible never seems to give us a single, simple explanation for every instance of suffering, it doesn't. So in Proverbs 20, 12, in Proverbs chapter 20, verse 12, the hearing ear and the seeing eye that Lord have made them both, we should feel some tension and we should be like, well, wait a minute, I got questions. That's not a mistake. I think it's a part of the reality that happens when we read Scripture and we don't ignore reality. So this link brings us to layer number five, application and misuse. So how should we apply this? Well, I mean, obviously we can see this.

42:11I mean, this is a simple lesson that calls us for gratitude, right? The hearing ear and the seeing eye, God made both. I mean, do you think about your hearing insight? Do you think about them? Are you grateful for them? Do you show gratitude? Do you think God for those two basic faculties? Now, you may not think about them until they begin to fade or go away or lesson or something tragic happens to them, but they're pretty extraordinary gifts. And it's through my eyes, I can see Scripture and I can read it. Just through my ears that I can hear teaching, hear sermons, lectures, theological discussions, those are extraordinary gifts. So how grateful are you for your eyes and for your ears?

43:14What was the last time you even thank God for those two? I think a second thing is the verse reminds us of our dependence. You didn't design yourself. You didn't create your own faculties. Even your ability to perceive reality is given to you by God. So we should remind you of how dependent you are upon your creator. And does it maybe a third application? Does it call for stewardship? God gave you eyes, God gave you ears. What do you use them for? What do you do with them? But wait a minute. Because we perceive what we have, because we are grateful for what we have, because we understand how dependent we are on what we have, on God for what we have, should at some point lead to some type of compassion?

44:17When you encounter those who live with blindness or deafness or other impairments, I do wanna say this, stop with your simplistic theological explanations. There is no simple theological explanation. Maybe the correct response is humility. Maybe the correct response is compassion. And then maybe this is a reminder that the Bible calls us to be honest. I think the Bible frequently presents truths that create tension. The church wants to eliminate the tension. I think a good pastor will present the tension and let the people struggle and wrestle with it. Again, I think churches where you should come to be confronted with the tension that the Bible so many times presents to us, so that by the time church is over, everyone's walking out with a lip because we've come face to face with the truth of God. And it's, we wrestle with it and it breaks us. Faith does not require us to pretend

45:20that the tension does not exist. Faith is the thing that can see the tension and try to embrace the tension at the same time embracing the truth of God. Faith requires us to acknowledge the tension, acknowledge reality, but at the same time we trust the God who speaks. So maybe at first glance, Proverbs 2012 looks like a simple proverb, but when you place it beside the reality of our world and the broader witness of scripture, I think we discovered that this small, very, I mean, what may appear to be a simple verse opens the door to some very profound questions about creation, about perception, about suffering, about dependence, and upon God's sovereignty. Now, it does remind us something very basic though,

46:22all right, and even when I say basic, I'm not saying it's not powerful, it's basic and powerful because it reminds us, it shows us something, my hearing, your hearing, our hearing, our, my sight, your sight, our sight, our ability to perceive the world it all comes from God. And that truth should produce humility, it should produce gratitude, it should produce compassion, it should produce, hopefully it gives us some form of wisdom as we try to live in this world. I mean, just think about it, your ability to physically see comes from God, and God obviously doesn't give it to everyone. Your ability to hear comes from God, and obviously he doesn't give it to everyone. And clearly, your ability to perceive and understand spiritual truth in any way, shape, or form comes from God because, well, he keeps some people, he blinds them spiritually, they do not have ears to hear

47:23and eyes to see. Why does God open your spiritual perception to see your sin and see the truth of Jesus dying for your sin so that you could be saved and others he does not? Now, I wanna end with this. And this is hard, but we need to end with this. Proverbs 2012 reminds all of us that hearing ear and the seeing eye comes from God. And for those of us who can hear, and for those of us who can see, that should bring some level of gratitude, thankfulness, understanding, I don't know,

48:24just why me? Oh, humility? But man. If we're honest, we have something else here. Millions of people in this world do not have hearing ears and seeing eyes that work. Millions of people do not have bodies that function normally. Millions live with realities, sermons that never wanna talk about. There's people who will never hear music, people who will never even see the sky. There's people who have lived their entire lives without ever seeing or hearing. And beyond just that, there are millions of people who suffer things that have nothing to do with their ears or with their eyes. There are people right now, today, Saturday, March the 7th, 2026, who are living their lives

49:26and constant physical pain because of some disease 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are people right now whose bodies are slowly falling apart and failing. There's people right now whose legs no longer work. People who cannot walk. People who cannot move unless they are assisted by someone. There's people who can't breathe right now unless they have some medical equipment. There's people who've lost limbs. There's people whose bodies have been broken by accidents. There's people whose nervous systems betray them every single day. There are people suffering neurological issues. People who suffer seizures, who have no control when it's going to occur and what it's going to do. And all these forms of suffering and I could go on and on and on are real, but there's also people who suffer other things.

50:27People who live their entire lives without any form of intimacy or companionship. People who may desperately want marriage and intimacy, but they never experience it. They live alone, they live isolated, they live without. These are people who sit in churches year after year watching everyone else go home with someone, they get to experience this, they're not suffering, they're doing great and they leave church and pain alone, isolated and without. There's people who carry loneliness that no one else can even see begin to comprehend or understand. And the uncomfortable reality is that millions of human beings live lives where very little

51:30seems to work. Their bodies don't work, their circumstances don't work, their relationships don't work, their health doesn't work and their plans don't work, they never happen. And the church, I don't think the church does it intentionally, but unintentionally, the church creates a culture where it's only stories we celebrate, our stories where everything works, our everything is fixed and everything is better and everything is wonderful. We gather together to say, look at all the blessings God has given us. Look at our health, look at our families, look at our marriages, look at our success, look at everything that works and praise God for it. What about all the people? Well, what about all the people sitting quietly in the back maybe? Maybe they don't even sit in the front of the church, they sit in the back row, the back pew.

52:30They're like, what is working again exactly? What about the person who's been battling illness for year after year after year after year? What about the person who's prayed over and over and over and over and over and over for healing? For some relief, for some kind of comfort? What about the person who has begged and pleaded God for companionship to experience intimacy and goes home alone? What about the person whose life has been defined by suffering, pain, abuse? Those people exist, they sit in churches, they listen to sermons, they hear us talk about blessings that they will never experience. And if we're not careful, the message

53:31you're going to hear, Christianity is only for people whose lives work. It's for the healthy, it's for the successful, it's for the blessed, it's for the people whose bodies function, it's for the people whose families are intact, it's for the people whose prayers seem to get answered the way they hoped for, their problems get better. But I think the Bible, I want to believe the Bible refuses to paint a shallow picture of reality because the Bible is full of people who suffered, who lived with pain, who lived with loss, who lived with unanswered questions, Job, who walked through life carrying burdens that never seemed to disappear. So when you read a verse like Proverbs 20 verse 12, we should be grateful for the hearing ear and for the seeing eye, I'm not saying we shouldn't.

54:35But don't we have to remember that we live in a world where many people do not experience those gifts in any way shape or form? And the church cannot be a place where suffering is ignored. It can't be a place where their questions are shh, that's gonna make us uncomfortable, shh, shh. It can't be a place where their pain is ignored, but it has to be a place where their questions are not silenced, it has to be a place where their pain is acknowledged. I don't think the gospel was ever meant to be good news only for people whose lives are ready work. Wasn't the gospel supposed to be spoken into a world where things are massively broken? Bodies are broken? Everything is broken?

55:36I mean, I feel it, I feel the gospel was meant to be spoken into a world where things are broken. Bodies are broken, hearts are broken, lives are broken. And sometimes the brokenness does not disappear in life even after you're saved. And if the church is going to speak honestly about God's world, then it must be honest about both realities the hearing ear, the seeing eye, those that don't hear and don't see. Yes, the hearing ear and the seeing eye may come from God, yet we live in a world where many people don't have a hearing ear, the seeing eye and many others who suffer in countless ways deeply. Both of those truths have to be faced with humility and both of those truths must shape the way we speak,

56:36the way we teach and the way we care for people who sit beside us every single week. So, we have to hold two realities together. Proverbs tells us the hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both. That is true. I am not undermining that or denying that. And those who can hear and those who can see should never take that gift lightly. But we also live in a world where many ears do not hear and many eyes do not see. We live in a world where bodies fail, where disease ravages, where loneliness persists, suffering marks the lives of millions of people, millions of people, millions of people, many lay in bed at night, suffering alone.

57:37It kind of just quite desperation. And it's only quiet because no one's around to hear it because everyone else is sound asleep and life is perfect for them. Now, faith does not require me to pretend that reality is simple and I refuse, and I don't care when Christians get mad at me. My faith does not, I'm gonna say my faith requires me not to pretend that reality is simple. I think faith requires me to see the truth. The Bible speaks into a broken world, not an ideal one. So perhaps the wisdom of this proverb is not found in easy answers. Maybe it's found in humility. The humility to acknowledge that even our most basic abilities are gifts, and then maybe somehow we gain compassion to recognize that many people's lives don't have those gifts.

58:41And maybe we need the honesty to admit that life in this world raises questions that cannot be neatly resolved in a three-point sermon. And maybe we gain some wisdom that's standing between the truth of the text and the reality of the world. Wisdom refuses to deny either one. Proverbs chapter 20, verse 12, ears to hear, eyes to see, both are gifts from the Lord. Everyone have a good Saturday.

59:42God bless. Amen.