Are you dull of hearing?
(NB: I used KJV translation for this post)
"Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered,
seeing ye are dull of hearing." - Hebrews 5:11 (KJV)
Being dull of hearing is not a hearing problem, it is a spiritual receptivity problem. The Word is being spoken. It is reaching your ears. But it is not penetrating, not producing, and not transforming. And that gap between hearing and change is where too many believers quietly stagnate.
This condition keeps a believer locked in spiritual infancy, carnality, and dependence instead of maturity. The Word is not the problem. The response to it is.
What "Dull of Hearing" Actually Means
The word dull in the original text implies something sluggish, lazy, or insensitive, not broken. This is not a question of intelligence. It is a question of response.
A dull believer hears the Word repeatedly. They sit under good preaching. They open their Bible. But nothing happens because hearing has been separated from acting.
"When for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again…"Hebrews 5:12
Time has passed. But growth has not happened. The writer of Hebrews names this plainly and so should we.
The Real Cause: Not Applying the Word
Spiritual growth is tied directly to doing the Word, not simply hearing it. This is not a motivational idea, it is a biblical principle.
"Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."James 1:22
Here is the uncomfortable truth: you don't become dull by lack of teaching. You become dull by lack of obedience.
Every time the Word is heard but not acted upon, something shifts inside:
Sensitivity decreases
Conviction weakens
Reception dulls
Eventually, the Word no longer moves you. Not because it lost its power, but because you trained yourself not to respond.
The Consequence: Spiritual Immaturity
Hebrews 5 is blunt about what dullness produces:
"Ye are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat."Hebrews 5:12
Milk represents the basics. Strong meat is deeper revelation the kind that changes how you see, how you respond, and how you live. A dull believer cannot handle it.
Cannot receive deeper truth
Remains dependent on others for spiritual sustenance
Is controlled by feelings and circumstances
"I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal even as babes in Christ."1 Corinthians 3:1
This is carnality. Not wickedness just perpetual infancy.
Why the Word Cannot Reach the Believer
Do not blame the Word for its silence in your life. Its power has not diminished.
"The word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it."Hebrews 4:2
The Word fails to produce when it is not believed, not acted upon, and not retained. The blockage is not external. It is not the preacher, the church, or the season.
The blockage is internal.
Why the Word Cannot Reach the Believer
Do not blame the Word for its silence in your life. Its power has not diminished.
"The word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it."Hebrews 4:2
The Word fails to produce when it is not believed, not acted upon, and not retained. The blockage is not external. It is not the preacher, the church, or the season.
The blockage is internal.
