And I had to say is it, LORD? Is it my aim? To know You – yes! To experience the power of Your resurrection? Absolutely! To share in Your suffering? And there I paused. I don’t like it that I paused but I did.
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Watching
Mark 12:41 He sat down opposite the treasury and began watching how the people were putting money into the offering box. Many rich people were putting in a lot. source
He sat watching. Watching the people. Watching who came. Who went. Watching.
He saw her.
Mark 12:42 Then a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, worth less than a penny. 43 Calling His disciples over, He said to them, “Amen, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those contributing to the box! 44 For they all put in from their surplus; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything she had, her whole living.” source
He saw her. And He saw what she gave. He saw the others too. He saw what they didn’t give. He knew. He knew the abundance. He knew the scarcity. He watched. He knew. He still does.
Aren’t you glad?
Chazaq!
Can I Get A Witness?
John 8: 10 Straightening up, Yeshua said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?”
11 “No one, Sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Yeshua said. “Go, and sin no more.” source
We know the story, right? The woman was brought to Jesus by the Pharisees; not because they cared about her or her sins; they were there on an entrapment mission. Read again what happened when they all dropped their stones, from the oldest to the youngest, and walked away.
I think she was scared. Don’t you? I think she was waiting for the stinging and the bleeding to begin. It didn’t. Can we imagine her relief? Can we imagine her breathless, barely audible voice as she said: “No one, Sir.”?
Can we identify?
Yeshua stood between she and the stones. Is Jesus standing between you and a stoning? He is willing to, you know.
Chazaq!
At Least This Time
Psalm 131 TLV 1 A Song of Ascents. Of David.
Adonai, my heart is not proud,
nor my eyes lofty,
nor do I go after things too great
or too difficult for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul—
like a weaned child with his mother,
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
3 O Israel, put your hope in Adonai
from this time forth and forever. source
Verse 1. Nor do I go after things too great or too difficult for me.
What is He saying?
First I was taken back to proud and lofty. The word arrogant came to mind too. What would entice me to go after things too great or too difficult for me?
Pride.
So what are these things that are too great and too difficult for me? I suppose this could vary from person to person. But I can think of something even though varied would be the same person to person.
Sin.
Sin is too strong for me. Once I begin to go after it, pursue it, it overwhelms me. It takes over. It consumes. It’s too great for me. Then it becomes too difficult. The weight of it. The penalty of it. It’s too much. Too much for me to bear.
So lets don’t! Lets don’t go after it. Don’t pursue it. Don’t make provision for it. (Romans 13:14) As to all those great and difficult things that are not sin; that do not have shame and guilt and evil and PRIDE attached to them, lets do go after them!
Lets go after JESUS! Seek Him! When we do, more than you or I can imagine will be given to us. Great things. And yes difficult things too; but those difficult matters and circumstances become glorious things in His Hands. (Matthew 6:33. I Corinthians 2:9)
That’s it. That’s what I got from Psalm 131 – at least this time. :)
Chazaq!
