Many of us observing the Feast of Tabernacles in our homes are up in our senior years. Generally, people in the “golden years” of life are quite aware that their senses of sight, hearing, taste and smell are not as sharp as they used to be. Ah, getting old has some sadness, but it’s better than not getting old!

In addition, many young people have eyesight and/or hearing that is less than ideal. Thankfully we live in a modern age when we have many devices to assist us. For vision problems, we primary have eyeglasses, contacts and surgery. For hearing problems, we primarily have hearing aids, implants and sound amplification.

Feel jealous of animals at times?

What we learn about the senses of all kinds of animals, birds, sea creatures, etc., is often astounding. Compared to us humans, some have an amazing sense of sight, some have an amazing sense of hearing, some have an amazing sense of smell, and some have an amazing sense of taste. A creature with a powerful sense has very specialized abilities that are fascinating.

Look around and see that our Creator God loves variety, and He has a limitless imagination! And sense of humor!

But when we start to feel jealous of an animal’s ability, we should remind ourselves that God has created our senses with the perfect balance for our God-designed purposes. God knows what is best for us! For example, electromagnetic radiation involves a huge spectrum (range) of wavelengths but thankfully we only see a tiny portion of it that we call “visible light.” We would go crazy if we could “see” all of the wavelengths of radiation.

Let’s remember that we are supremely blessed to have been created in the “image” and “likeness” of God so we have the very best design! (Genesis 1:26-27). And we are far, far superior to every other creature because God has given every human being “the spirit of man” which gives him the amazing human mind rather than merely an animal brain with its instincts (see Zechariah 12:1; see also 1 Corinthians 2:11; Job 32:8; Ecclesiastes 3:21; Ecclesiastes 8:8; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Isaiah 42:5; Romans 8:16; Luke 23:46).

Spiritual eyes and ears

Now for the really exciting part of this subject. An amazing thing happens when God calls a person (John 6:44, 65) to become one of His saints, part of the firstfruits of salvation (Romans 1:7; Romans 8:23; James 1:18). He offers those people the incredible gift of spiritual vision and hearing! God uses His Holy Spirit to open their eyes and ears to spiritual understanding of His Word and His Plan.

Consider what Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 13:16-17—“But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” Actually, most of chapter 13 relates to and amplifies this subject.

As most of you know, the gift of the Holy Spirit is given right after baptism during the follow-up prayer with the laying on of hands (Acts 2:38; Acts 8:14-17; Acts 9:17; Acts 19:6; 2 Timothy 1:6-7). Having the gift of the Holy Spirit is what makes a person spiritually “converted” (Acts 3:19; Matthew 18:3).

Amazingly, the difference between an unconverted mind and a converted mind might be as huge as the difference between an animal brain and a human mind (see 1 Corinthians 2, especially verses 6-14).

But since God doesn’t give the gift of the Holy Spirit until baptism, how does one gain enough spiritual understanding to start understanding the Bible and to start desiring to live his life based on the Bible? In other words, how does God call a person?

When God decides to call someone, He sends His Holy Spirit to influence him—to give him the ability to have spiritual understanding of the Bible and the desire to live by it, the ability to have faith, and the ability to be truly sorry and to repent of his sins. Notice that in John 14:16-17, Jesus said: “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him; for He dwells with you and will be in you.” (The pronoun should be translated “It” instead of “He” since the Holy Spirit is not a separate Being who is part of a “Trinity”. But grammatically this is correct since, in Greek, this pronoun is masculine rather than feminine.)

The Holy Spirit has been with the person to enlighten, influence, lead, and motivate him but the Holy Spirit will not dwell inside his mind and become part of his mind until he has been baptized.

People being called by God are increasingly able to understand the Bible because of two things: 1. God is using His Holy Spirit to give the person the ability to understand spiritual truth. 2. God is using His Church to teach the correct understanding of the Bible (Matthew 28:18-20; Romans 10:14-15; 1 Timothy 3:15).

How sharp are your eyesight and hearing?

If you have spiritual eyesight and hearing, you are supremely blessed. Those are much, much, much more important than physical eyesight and hearing! Physically poor eyesight and hearing (and all physical disabilities) are very small problems in the overall scheme of things, in the great plan of God. They will never hinder a person’s opportunity to become a glorious spirit being in the Kingdom of God. And the more we grow spiritually, the sharper our spiritual eyesight and hearing become.

If we stay close to God and remain faithful to the end, someday we’ll all trade in our defective bodies for brand new perfect bodies and minds! See the exciting passage in 1 Corinthians 15:39-54. As we get older, that thought is more and more appealing!

Following is how Luke records what Jesus said to His disciples: “Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it (Luke 10:23-24).

-- blog by Don Hooser --