Covered Ears

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

COVERED EARS

Acts 7:57-60

57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.

NIV

We are seeing the natural response of men who dare not hear or receive the truth. They covered their ears, they could not even listen to one more word from this Stephen. They overpowered anything else he could or would say with their shouting and yelling at the top of their voices. Isn’t this story the same today? There is a whole culture of people who do nothing but yell and scream at the top of their voices because they do want to hear or accept anything from biblical truth. They refuse to believe, even shouting profanities, rejecting the bible as the authentic word of God. They even reject the idea of God and look to their own religion invented and passed down by man. The members of the Sanhedrin rushed Stephen, and dragged him outside of the city, much as Jesus was forced to carry his cross out of the city. They could not even bear to stone him within the city for their traditional values were too strong. Nevertheless, they did not remember the words of Jesus, perhaps even to some of them, as they were about to stone a woman they caught in adultery, even though, she was most likely set up, otherwise, how did they, a group of religious men, find her in the act of committing adultery, which would have been done in secret. Jesus told those elders, that whoever was without sin, could cast the first stone. None cast any stones, however, in the case of Stephen, their anger and hatred were so full, that they started to stone him. Here again, we see that Saul was there, a witness to this madness. What is interesting is that Stephen, although he had no choice about being stoned, prayed and used some of the same words Jesus used when he was on the cross. The difference, however, is that Jesus prayed to the Father and committed His spirit to the Father, while Stephen prayed to Jesus he committed his spirit to Jesus. Stephen also asked the Lord to forgive those who were killing him. Our lesson here is simple. No matter what life brings to or upon us or how death comes to our bodies, we look to Jesus, the author, and perfecter of our faith. Yes, it is God who created us, but we also know that God said, “Let us create man in our image”. There was nothing created that was not created by Jesus. The beauty of all creation is that Jesus did not speak us into existence, but came down and with his own hands formed us from the earth, and then even came closer and breathed his very breath into us. Therefore, it is right to lift our spirit onto him at the moment of our last breath. Someday we will fall dead, but our spirit will be committed to him, and as with Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, a man full of wisdom and grace, we will commit our spirit to Jesus, and at the same time living, asking Jesus for forgiveness for all those who oppose the truth. Yet, they will continue to cover their ears and yell and scream their own brand of reality, even if it is built on lies, but we will live in the reality of the truth, the way, and the light.