That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest haply they should turn again, and it should be forgiven them. Mark 4:12 (ASV)
We have come to one of the greatest failures the human race could and does commit. Greatest, because the consequences are longer lasting then we can imagine. It would be nice if we could shove the implications off on those who never made a choice to look to God. But unfortunately Jesus´ words are so directed that even His closest companions found themselves under scrutiny.
A long-suffering and forgiving God may excuse ignorance but not if ignorance is what was the chosen path. If there does exist some primitive tribe somewhere where the word of Jesus has not reached or a young child not yet instructed in the word of God, they will have a better chance of escaping blame than one who heard the Word and failed to digest it. This puts you and me on the spot, (along with disciple and priests) to search out the great heart of God and not to settle back on a fine, comfortable understanding on the information we are given.
Jesus tries to point us ever away from ourselves. His goal is always in lifting up and directing us towards God. “Lest at any time they should be converted.” (KJV) Our Savior would have us turn from something and unto our God on High. Turn from what, and who needs to turn? These are very crucial questions that one man may not answer for another. Each of us in turn will have to settle these answers before the Lord in person.
We could take a wide comfortable road which is smoothly paved and we would feel secure. Or we could take a narrow and unstable road that would leave us no choice but to trust Jesus to get us through. But some will hear His call forward and we pray that we are among them. So we press forward. When we hear Jesus question us, or we learn that there are those who do not understand even though the facts are spread out before them, we turn. We would bow to the knee and search the council of none other than our Lord to know if we are seeing and not perceiving, or if we are hearing and not understanding.
Therefore, the children of the burning hearts will be searching always. We would pray continually and search the scriptures diligently. By no means, are we satisfied and say we got our God all wrapped up in a neat package. He will be ever greater and His words ever deeper. We will need to strive to be closer and closer to Him, so that nothing of His pertinent instruction is lost to us. We know that we have to turn and convert from stagnant simple explanations and place God where He belongs, far higher into the misty realms of His unfathomable kingdom.
Dear Lord, at Your words we tremble. We hear that there may be some who will hear Your words and settle for lower interpretations. It pains us to think of limiting You and we would imitate the disciples. Let us draw closer to You today. Shower us with understanding and open our hearts to hear Your words. Let us turn from our ways and begin to accept Your Living Word. Words that are crucial, vital and directing us in each moment. Do not allow our hearts to get attached to anything that is not vibrant and flowing from Your lips to edge us closer to You, Your Father and Your kingdom.
Amen
Searching For Christ 
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