“99% of babies who fail the first test go on to pass on the second one.”
That’s what a well-intentioned nurse told us after our baby Claire failed her newborn hearing screening. And we took it to heart and didn’t worry… until she failed the second test too.
How much can she hear? Can she hear at all? Will she ever hear?
Those were our initial worries, and we have been on quite the journey over the past nine months to get answers to those questions.
Ultimately, we found that she can hear some, but there are significant gaps in her hearing. And the answer to fill in those gaps was one I had no idea was even a possibility for a baby: hearing aids.
So yesterday—after nine months of wondering how much of our voices was getting through to Claire and praying fervently for God to make a way for her to hear—we went to get her hearing aids!
Our hearts burst with joy (and my eyes burst with tears) as we saw her respond with a smile to our voices. She was so alert and interested in taking in her surroundings, and she seemed so happy—happy to finally fill in the gap in her experience of the world.
Sometimes, it can feel like there is a gap in our experience when we read the Bible.
I know this is God’s Word, but how can he be speaking for me through this collection of anthologies and poems and stories and letters written to people who lived thousands of years ago in an entirely different culture in a different part of the world?
Just like I am incredibly thankful for Claire’s hearing aids that fill in the gaps in her hearing, I am thankful for our spiritual hearing aid—God’s Holy Spirit—who opens our eyes and ears and allows us to truly hear what God is saying through His Word.
God’s Word is living and active (Heb 4:12), because the same Spirit who inspired the writers of the words back then is illuminating them—bringing them to life—for their readers today.
The hearing aids help Claire hear, but they don’t work unless we put them in her ears. The Holy Spirit does the work of speaking to us through the Bible, but we have to put ourselves in a place to hear from him by reading the Bible.
Are you putting in your spiritual hearing aids? Are you taking up the challenge to create a pattern of consistently connecting with God through His word so that you can hear the Spirit speak directly from God’s heart to yours through the words of the Bible?
I have been thankful for our Habits of Grace series, which has outlined the reasons why we listen to God’s Word and given us tools and patterns to do so well. And I’m excited for this Sunday, when we will wrap up the series with a look at passing on God’s Word.
I love you, Grace!
-Nathan Ehresman