Ephphatha

Read Mark 7:31-37.

If you read the title of this entry you probably thought "What is that?" Or if you tried to pronounce it you probably got discouraged.

I took it from today's scripture reading in Mark 7. The word jumped out at me. It means "Be opened."

See here in verse 32-34: " There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.  After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!'"  It was then that his ears opened and he could speak.

What struck me here was that he WANTED to hear. Well, of course a deaf man wants to hear. But how many of us are spiritually deaf -- even for temporary moments? I have been deaf lately. It seems like everything I read is a glazed page in my Bible. Listening to the word is static. It was so depressing knowing I am not "getting it." I had a choice. I could continue on and just "hope" it came back. OR I could simply ask God -- with my minimal enthusiasm -- to open these tired ears.

I want to hear. I want to know. And sometimes we get so frustrated when we don't hear what we want that we shut out everything. It becomes routine and stale. That is how God's Word was for me in the last several days. Habit makes me read my devotions. Yet I was gaining nothing. It was my subconcious way of saying "I want answers that speak to ME, and since I see none, I am putting everything on mute."

If I couldn't see it, then I surely didn't want to hear it.

So now I cry "Ephphatha!" "Be opened!" Open my ears, my mind, my heart. Wake me up, Lord. Blast me in stereo. I CHOOSE to seek so that I may hear FROM YOU -- not FOR me.

What do you hear when you read the Bible? Nothing? Then ask. Cry out for the sake o fthe deaf man that lives in you....
^\       

Flooded wedding...Whoooosh!

Read Matthew 24

Can you imagine being in the middle of your wedding and then - WHOOSH -- a tidal wave of rain sweeps through and literally puts a damper on the whole thing? It would be worse if you were never warned of the flooding rains. It would be downright stupid to move forward with a wedding when you are told life-changing rains are coming and will certainly wreck the whole thing.

But in Noah's time, this happened. You know the story. No one listened to this great man of God. They thought he was crazy. They went about their daily lives. And then Swooooosh...wiped out. Gone.

Matthew 24: 36-39 reminds us of this. "But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark."
It then goes on to say "no one knew" until it got there. Maybe they did not know the exact day, but they had been warned it would rain. Still, they went on drinking and having a party like no biggie.

Matthew 24 is filled with reasons for us to be prepared for the end. I am not talking about the Mayan craziness of predicting a day. I am saying it can happen anytime.
What  issues are you married to? What is your life showing forth for when the last big "Whoooosh" comes through? Are you really ready to stand before the King? REALLY?

I'm not saying live in fear and do not get married literally or to let your life go to nothing but waiting. I am suggesting some of us will be caught in uncompromising situations. If there is sin in your life that you are trying to cover up, how about you wash it away completely -- now? Do it before the rains come. You might not like how the "wedding" ends otherwise.

Read Matthew 24. You'll see what I mean.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+24&version=NIV