Introduction: My wife gets so tired of my quoting lines from one of my all-time favorite movies, The Shawshank Redemption. In one of the many excellent scenes, the protagonist, Andy Dufresne (played by Tim Robbins) has discovered evidence that should clear him of his wrongful conviction. (He was wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife.) But the warden of Shawshank Prison is a corrupt-ocrat and still demands that Andy serve time–for a crime he didn’t commit!

Understandably, Andy explodes with incredulity and exclaims, “This is my chance to get out! Can’t you see that? It’s my life! Don’t you understand?” Still, the corrupt warden won’t budge. Andy again pleads with him: “How can you be so obtuse?” And the warden fires back, “What did you call me?” And Andy says, “Obtuse. Is it deliberate?”

It’s one of the classic exchanges in modern film. Absolutely masterful. Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgUD9W6EsMY

But here’s how Scripture connects with this worldview: God teaches that not all people have ears to hear and eyes to see. God has to grant those. Here are examples of this:

• “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18)
• “and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12).
• “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled 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).

In short, God has to grant spiritual eyes that see. God has to grant spiritual ears that hear. Otherwise, we remain obtuse, like the warden in The Shawshank Redemption.

Andy was acting as if he assumed the wicked Norton had a heart and mind transformed by God. But Norton didn’t. He was wicked through and through. He hated the truth and suppressed it in unrighteousness, just like the Bible says (Romans 1:18, 21-23).

Takeaway: Unless and until God tills the heart, the seeds we sow remain without root. Therefore, we must labor as if it depends upon us, but simultaneously know that salvation, as the Bible says, “belongs to the LORD” (Jonah 2:9).