With a cup of coffee in hand, I try to start my mornings in a room that has my desk, drying rack, rollaway bed and storage cabinet, so a multi-purpose room. My better days are when this routine is kept. For me, I have a devotional calendar and a devotional book that typically I start with. I do not believe in chance or luck. There are some days where these 2 items have spoken volumes and exactly what I needed for what I was/am facing. They are linked to scripture, so I use my Bible, sometimes my Bible concordance and begin. Many days are spent starting with the one scripture on the calendar or devotional book, but they rarely end there. I like to read in context, sometimes that is a few verses, a chapter or several chapters.
Today the scripture was Matthew 14:14 “And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.” As I read the in the book, it’s focus was on “he healed their sick “The book brought out the points that Jesus healed all their sick. It does not say, He healed some or He healed only those who were good or deserved it, it says, He healed their sick, which implies all.
Who was in that crowd? Would everyone in the crowd that was healed use their newfound health to praise the Lord, follow after His Kingdom. I highly doubt it. In Luke 17: 11-17, the account is given where Jesus met 10 lepers, Jesus tells them to go back to their priest and shew themselves. When you read the scriptures note vs 15. It says one, only one…. “When he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God”. Reading this verse, I believe the lepers were healed only after they obeyed what Jesus said to do, that is trust, that is faith. However, only one turns around and praises God for what has been done. Back to those in the crowd. Jesus, knowing that some would not praise him, some may use their newfound health to commit crimes, hurt others, some would curse instead of pray, eyes that would lust, hands that would abuse. “Each time Jesus healed, he had to overlook the future and the past.” (Max Lucado,2000) This last phrase caused me to think not about physical healing, but spiritual healing – reconciliation. When our spirits our quickened or made alive and we are restored back to a relationship with the Heavenly Father. Yes, our spirits come back to life because of the sacrifice at Calvary, but we are still robed in flesh with a sin nature and will be until the other side of Heaven. Am l like the one leper or am I like the nine? They were all healed, and they all had a choice and yet only one praised God.
All of the above spoke to my heart, yet the part that really stuck out was “moved with compassion”. What moved Jesus? Why? What did He see in that crowd? Why with this crowd did He have compassion when in John 2:14-16, Jesus made a scourge of small cords and drove them ALL out of the temple….hum, sounds like He was not pleased, at that moment and He was not healing that crowd. Questions like this spur me to study and if there is ever a day where between this calendar and book, they do not spur questions, I then have other subjects or passages that I will study.
This is just a glimpse of how I study. For those who have children we know they are all different, they do not learn in the same manner, but the goal is to teach them knowledge and skills for life. If you study different, Praise the Lord….you are studying. Some days I may only read one verse of scripture, it may take me an hour. Not because I’m a slow reader, I may write the verse out and dig into the meaning from the original, using the concordance. Somedays I am writing in a journal how that verse has spoken to me, what other verses tie in with it. We all learn different, and I believe we can learn from one another. We don’t have to approach it all the same, but the scriptures say in 2 Timothy 2: 15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
For today: Look Up, Keep Serving Jesus, He is Worthy!