So, one of the lectionary verses this week is Mark 10 46-52. The last line says "Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way." (from Vanderbilt http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=225#hebrew_reading)
What struck me was the "followed him on the way". He took the healing and he followed the one who healed. I've been healed so many times, of so many things, but often I trail off on my own little way, not simply following. Not trusting.
I'm having a rough time of it lately. I am floundering and flaling and walking through a grief road I thought I had already traveled. Psalm 34 is another part of the readings this week, and verse 6 was so appropriate this morning I laughed out loud. "This poor soul cried, and was heard by the LORD, and was saved from every trouble." I don't think this is saying I won't have any trouble in life, or that if I believe in God that all manner of good fortune will descend upon me. I think it means that when a soul cries out in anguish, often of our own making or imagination, that even then God will not desert that soul - that soul will be saved. Not always in the way we think ought to happen, but always in the way God sees as best. That peace, and soemtimes joy, can creep in when we think we have just cried out our last tear.
Enough theological rambling for one morning. Of course, your interpretations may vary. And mine proabably will in another day or two when I'm a bit out of this valley. Because of course, valleys look different looking down into them then looking out from the bottom.
1 comment:
I love Psalm 34 and had it read (or rather, parts of it lest anyone think I was totally crazy) at my wedding. One of the fantastic thing about the Psalms is that there is so much honest emotion contained in them.
My husband is preaching on Psalm 22 this coming Sunday. The secretary and music leader called me on the phone this morning and asked if he had any songs in mind, too, because they couldn't find a hymn about worms... then one said, "Oh, wait -- it gets better." I suggested "Great is Thy Faithfulness" would be an appropriate hymn choice.
Grief is a strange and unpredictable thing. I hope that your valleys become less deep over time.
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