😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you. ‘Then looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha.” that is, “Be opened.” And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.’ – Mark 7:34-35
Ephphatha…Through the years that has been a word that has stood out to me. Initially because of it’s melodiousness, but also because it’s kind of fun to say…Ephphatha…and I find it interesting that Mark kept this Aramaic word in the text. Speech and speaking are learned by first hearing. No one comes out of the womb speaking, but the majority of babies do come out hearing. When your hearing is impaired or completely blocked, it will affect your ability to speak clearly or even speak at all. So, in this case, it’s not the debate of which came first, the chicken or the egg. Hearing certainly precedes speaking. That’s something to contemplate.
Before speaking the word, Jesus looked up to heaven and He sighed. Why did He look toward His Father and sigh? Do you think He was just worn out from people not listening and needing some strength from His Father? Or was it maybe kind of a pity sigh? Maybe it was a sign of disappointment in the fact that He was pouring His heart out to so many, yet relatively few actually heard and understood. We’re not alone in our struggle to hear. Even the disciples, who experienced Jesus up close and personal, had to ask on multiple occasions what the real meaning of certain parables were.
There have been many times in my life when I did not hear the Lord speaking to me, partly because I just didn’t know better. I hadn’t spent enough time with Him and His word, getting to know Him and why He wanted to be with me. And then, there were other times that I just didn’t want to hear what He had to say, so I would purposely block Him out. It sounds pretty crappy as I read this, but the truth is what it is, and the truth is that many times I have put myself above God.
Hearing the Lord is a choice that we have to make multiple times a day. As we choose to be opened to hearing God and His word, our mind will be opened, our speech will be opened, our actions will be opened to fearlessly proclaiming Him to all of us who so desperately need Him in our lives.
I say to you “Ephphatha! Be Opened!”
Bless others and be blessed.
Shelly :0)
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#Creed – With Arms Wide Open
Third Day Devotions 