When you go to a hospital and a patient shout at you, yelling their fears and complaints, you don’t hear anything, and most likely you did not listen to what they said, because for listening to happen, you have to hear, assimilate, and then listen to reason. Hence, we have a popular Jewish phrase: Shema O Israel (listen, hear, and obey).
Luke 8 talks about a type of hearing of the Word of God, the Word of God being the seed.
It says some hear the Word of God, and the devil (as the fowl of the air) devours the word before it reaches the heart.
It talks about the Word of God as a seed falling on rocks, that is, falling away in the time of temptation. No wonder it is written, “Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil,” and “There is no temptation that has overtaken man that God won’t make a way for you to escape.”
It sees the Word of God fall on thorns, i.e. the cares, riches, and pleasures of this life choke the Word of God out of the heart. So the battleground is the heart.
Jesus finally says this person receives the Word of God on good ground, i.e. he honestly receives the word, keeps the word in his heart, and with patience bears FRUIT.
The interesting thing for me is this verse, Luke 8:18: “Take heed how you hear.” Why? Whoever hath the Word of God, to him it is given, and if you don’t have the Word of God in your heart, even that which you seem to hear will be taken away.
So, to hear God is to have Him honestly in your heart, holding on to Him with patience. Indeed, there is nothing hidden that won’t be revealed.