(I pray)... that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him... (Ef 1,17)
If a person follows God, he changes inside. There is no one who becomes harder and more insensitive in the heart on His way. If that were possible, then it is safe to say that such a person is not really on the right path. Inner sensitivity means that we can discern, i.e., see, without having to engage the intellect, and is therefore in some ways a litmus test (not the only one) of the authenticity of our following. This is what Jesus meant when he said "unless you are like children...". The Pharisees were well-read on biblical issues, yet Jesus called them blind. Their knowledge was useless, they were inwardly out of tune with God and therefore could not see the right way.
There are some people who are more sensitive because of their disposition and others who are less sensitive. But spiritual sensitivity is not a natural quality of man. It grows as we come to know and follow God. In the above text, Paul prayed for the Ephesians, who had been believers for several years, that they might have "inner eyes enlightened." This was a purely spiritual, not a mental quality. It was not given to them once and for all, so they could conclude that they had already received everything, and there was nowhere to grow. Nor did Paul acquire it through his study of the Law, his zeal, asceticism, and devotion to the service of God. In fact, even as the "top pupil" among the Pharisees, he was spiritually totally blind, for he was persecuting the God in whom he believed and did not see it at all. It was not until he saw through that he acquired a spiritual sensitivity to the voice of God: it appeared when he encountered Christ and was filled with the Holy Spirit. And it continued to grow as he followed Him, as we observe in what is recorded of the history of his ministry.
One of the spiritual laws is that spiritual sensitivity can be gained or lost, depending on whether we are moving closer to God or farther away. Abraham grew in it, and therefore knew more about Lot and all of Sodom than Lot himself. He knew where Sodom was spiritually, what fate awaited it, and he knew why he had no place there. Lot, however, lacked it, and therefore not only knew nothing of Abraham or the world around him, but was unable to view his own situation. Nor that he needed to get out of the city as soon as possible.
