or My Ears Have Grown Up
Our city recently opened our latest shopping experience: a series of open-air high-end retail shops. I’m not all that interested in the clothes shopping, but I am excited about the eating possibilities. Not only will I be able to partake of Starbucks with a drive-thru (no more making up reasons to go to Target), I have fallen in love with a sandwich at Panera Bread.
Over the weekend, I discovered the Turkey Artichoke Panini. I ate one on Saturday, then went back for round two on Sunday. That thing is delicious.
However, that is not the real reason for this post. The real story concerns the song I heard on the radio while driving home from said restaurant Sunday evening.
I rarely find anything I want to hear on the radio, so I tend to be a scanner. I was in Karl’s car; therefore, the CD pickins were slim. Call me crazy, but I wasn’t in the mood for Hall and Oates, Led Zeppelin, Foo Fighters, or John Denver. (See if you can make sense of his musical taste.) So, I was scanning…
When, lo and behold, I heard an old Prince song. So old it was before he changed his name to a symbol. I got excited because I absolutely loved Prince when I was younger. I have very fond childhood (yes, childhood) memories involving fun, dancing, and Prince. (The long and short of it is that my parents loved to party, and they and their friends just took all of us kids along. The adults had their party and us kids had our “party”). Prince offered some of the best dance music!
I thought I would reminisce a little and listen to it. And you know what I learned? “Little Red Corvette” is not about a little red corvette. It has nothing at all to do with a car. Yes, he is saying words involving a car and driving fast, but he is not really singing about his favorite car. And all these years I thought it was about driving safely. You know, not too fast.
And this reminded me of one of my very earliest (of my very few) childhood memories: the Mission Friends lesson in which I had to memorize John 3:16.
I distinctly recall sitting on the floor in front of an end table in our Mission Friends leader’s living room. I had to have been about five or six years old. I remember reciting the verse over and over and over again until I could say it without any mistakes because I desperately wanted the prize for memorization: a bookmark. So, I taxed my brain to remember strange words like “whosoever” and “believeth” and “begotten” and “everlasting.”
I memorized it, but I had no idea what it meant. Not a clue. We rarely went to church as a family, Jesus was not talked about at home (even though His name was used), and I think Mom used church as a babysitter as much as possible. Praise God! Thus, I could recite John 3:16 in the King James Version for 8 years before I had an inkling of all it entails. It’s a miracle I never forgot that verse. In fact, it’s the only one I know in KJV.
Then, one evening in my 14th year, God in His great grace and mercy, opened my ears and mind to understand what they had heard all those years ago. I knew the words, I just couldn’t comprehend them without His enabling.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4
The LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. Psalm 146:8
I never would have guessed it, but God used a trashy song on the radio to prompt an old memory and remind me of the life I used to enjoy. Furthermore, he reminded me of the wonder of His salvation and love toward me ALL of my life, even during those strange, dark years of growing up. I have been given ears to hear His Word and a new heart that desires to please my Savior.
I have so many reasons to give thanks!
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Leslie Wiggins 
14 responses to “Listening and Comprehending”
Thanks for sharing this Leslie. I just came by to let you know I was praying for you and then I saw this new post. It is so good to be reminded of how we were before we turned to Christ and what He has done in our lives. Definitely much to be thankful for! Thanks for reminding me today too.
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That post was so good. So real. And so encouraging. When we “put off the old man”, the “new man” is all of the sudden cognizant of the fact that many of the things we enjoyed earlier were not glorifying to God. I have been struck by this too. Some of the music and things I enjoyed before have been shown in a new light. I am so thankful for that. And I’m thankful for all your very thoughtful and honest posts!!!!!!!!!HUGS! PS- I think it’s hilarious about the Red Corvette song. 🙂
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All deep theology aside, Panera has some delicious french onion soup if you like that :)Good as always sweet Leslie!
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AMEN!!! That’s awesome! I can’t believe you ever liked Prince, though! : ) I have a friend that STILL thinks he’s the greatest hip hop artist ever…..hmmmmm…..: )I LOVE that Panera sandwich too! It’s YUMMMMMMMY!
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Oooh yes–the Turkey Artichoke dream–a real favorite to my taste buds as well. But the real treat in the post is definitely how God opens ears and eyes to His glory. A great memory indeed for many of us to remember the days of darkness now made light by the Savior!
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Wow! Don’t you love it when God uses just some everyday thing to point us back to Him. Even though I was saved at a very young age, I am still amazed at how verses I memorized at 4,5, and 6 are stil with me and mean so much more to me now then I could possibly have comprehended then.
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O.K….a couple of things. If our parents lived near one another, we may have had “kid parties” together. My mother loved Prince! I was too busy trying to find more rebellious angry music to express my angst.When I was running with my iPod for the first time, I had Chris put some ol’ favorites on there from the 80’s and being alone with your music is the best way to truly hear the lyrics. I’ll just say that Bob Seger and his Night Moves were far more graphic than I remembered. I had to make some major adjustments to the iPod list after that first run :)I loved this post. I love that God uses our weakness to show His glorious strength and uses our ignorance to reveal His perfect wisdom! Your life…my life…the lives of every sinner that abide in His grace are such beautiful pictures of redemption. Praise Him!Thank you for sharing your heart 🙂
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Every so often my husband and I play a game of “name that tune” with our friends. We get out the old tapes (yes, tapes!!!!) and play little snippets. It’s alot of fun going down memory lane…but boy oh boy it also is a great reminder of how far the Lord has brought us!PS Have to admit, I like Prince too…too bad the lyrics are not the best things to fill our minds with.
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Thanks Leslie. It is wonderful how God opens our blind eyes so that we can see. Now I’m praying for some others in my life circle that need mercy and to have their eyes opened! Blessings…
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Sadly, we have no Panera on “the island” where I live, so I can only imagine the deliciousness.Seriously, what a wonderful reminder that God can and will use the scriptures we urge our children to hide in their hearts. I am so grateful for new life in Christ and I pray my children will truly understand one day, too. Praise God for His mercy and grace!
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I appreciate all of the great comments! I agree that it is worth it to put God’s word into our kids’ minds even before they can really understand what they’re memorizing. He’ll use it!! And, oh yes, I loved Prince! In fact, my neighbor and I rode to school together after she got her license and there was one particular Prince song that we sang every single morning. I will only disclose the name of that song under extreme torture.
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Such a great post, Leslie!How does a dead man respond? He can’t, unless his eyes have been opened by the Lord. I’m so thankful that God chose to use the partying and hard times of your past to bring about His good purposes for you. Through all of that you can see His hidden hand of providence bringing you to where you are today.You are a blessing! Still praying that your family is well and that your house will be fixed soon!
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Enjoyed reading this… Isn’t it amazing how many things enter our ears and we aren’t even aware of their message? My mom recently told me a story of when I was young… Apparently at the tender age of 3 or 4 we were shopping at the mall and a not so pleasant song came over the radio- so she quickly encouraged me to sing “Jesus loves me”. I think she wanted me to be distracted, but I thought I was suppose to drown out the song for ALL listeners… Oops! Jesus’ love was heard from Lazarus to JCPenney!Thank you again for sharing this story- truly enjoy your way or words…
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Amen! What a great reminder. I’m glad that His word never comes back void. Praise God that he is still helping us to understand Him and His Word more.
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