Thursday, December 19, 2013
The Common People
When we have friends that we trust and feel comfortable being around, we talk. We ask questions. We discuss our lives and acknowledge when we don’t really understand something or don’t have the answer. But it doesn’t keep us from talking or asking the questions. Sometimes that is true in our relationship with God as well.
Mark 12:35 And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the Son of David?
36 For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
37 David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly.
When Jesus was in the temple He asked the question about the scriptures that say that David referred to the Messiah as Lord, meaning he was God, yet the scribes called the Messiah the Son of David? We can get into a big theological discussion here about what the scribes meant or was Jesus referring to the virgin birth or raising the point that He was God or one of a million other things. Those are all great discussions, but they are not the point I am making here. The point is that the common people were able to identify with what He was saying. Why is that?
Perhaps the common people understood and received what He was saying because they were in the same place. This passage suggests that it is normal for those of us that are just common people to have and ask questions. Did you ever read scriptures or hear someone talk and have a question about it? That is why the common people accepted His words. They had questions. I know I have questions. This morning I asked God about a verse in Psalms 92.
Psalms 92:9 For, lo, thine enemies, O Lord, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
While I do want God to defend me from my enemies, for them to perish seems a bit harsh. Then I noticed that they are also scattered. How could they perish and be scattered? I could not understand it. So God had me look up the words perish and scattered. The word perish means to wander away. The word scattered means to break through like you are in a hurry. So I understood that God will just cause our enemies to wander off, and in a hurry. That made much more sense to me, and that is easy for me to pray and sing as a request to God, and to give thanks for Him making that happen.
It is not only okay to have questions, it is a good thing to ask questions. It is good because the only one with all the answers is God and the only way to get the answers is if we ask Him, like He is our friend, like it is okay to have questions, like we are really communicating and developing a relationship with the One that created the universe. And here is the great part for which I am very thankful. God wants to have that relationship with us! That, my friends, is amazing, and we can be thankful that He wants to be a Friend like that!
Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You. We are so thankful that You want to not only be our God, You want to be our Friend. We are thankful that You do not make fun of us when we have questions. We are thankful that You will supply Your answers in our lives. Today we just want to thank You for being our Healer, our Deliverer, our Provider, and the One that answers our questions when we talk to You. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.