13 November 2013 - desire therefore my words

13 November 2013 - desire therefore my words

Desire therefore my words;
long for them and you shall be instructed.
How well can we get through this day if we don't spend any time with his words?  Fortunately we are spending some time with them right now.  And yet, don't we pass most of our lives without reference to his words?  Isn't the word of God a compartmentalized novelty in our lives rather than something that informs everything we do.  Are our judgment and wisdom really drawn from his word?  Is his word so close that we "will have a ready response" when we need one?  Do actual verses of Scripture give us strength in adversity?  Do specific words of his inform our most difficult decisions?

One "ready response" that his wisdom teaches us is thanksgiving. 

And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
This leper displays the wisdom he receives from God.  He is the first to perceive God's healing action within him.  He is the first to return to give thanks.  He penetrates deeper than the surface meaning of the words of Jesus.  With the other lepers he hears, "Go show yourselves to the priests."  But only he is transformed enough by his encounter with the one who speaks to know that giving thanks must come first.  Those words, "show yourselves to the priests", are not spoken in isolation in which they should be dissected and analyzed.  They are spoken by the one to whom all praise and thanksgiving is due.

Because of this, desiring his words will raise our hearts to even desiring his will. 

Rise up, O God, bring judgment to the earth.

We come to realize that our judgments are partial and so we come to trust in the one who is impartial.  We come to trust the one who defends "the lowly and the fatherless", who does justice to "the afflicted and the destitute", and who rescues "the lowly and the poor" from "the hand of the wicked."

May we all experience the healing word of Jesus.  And when we experience it let us return and give thanks.

Then he said to him, “Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you.”