Blind Ears

There are two ways that I read the Bible. Sometimes I open specifically trying to find a truth that I have been searching for--digging in to understand something that i want to understand. But then there are other times that i am reading the Bible, or it is read to me, when I haven't selected the reading. It is in reading verse like these that i haven't chosen that I often find myself truly humbled, and gaining a more objective Scriptural perspective.

(Judging by the name of this blog, you will know that I am not claiming to have that perspective, but I definitely long after it.)

Today I am humbled by these words from James.

"Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you." -James 5:1-5

The image I see is of a couple, sitting in their beautiful home looking around and considering what is missing. What is that one more thing that will make us truly happy, they wonder. Out the window, as the workers who grow their food are out in the field, so hungry that they would be incapable of understanding the couple's dilema.

I say that i am humbled because if i have to put myself in the shoes of one of the two, i find myself more like the man who thinks that there will be something--that one special new object that will make me content--that will fill my life with peace.

There is a solution to this horrible disconnect. I imagine the couple rolling up their sleeves, and preparing a wonderful dinner. I see them seated outside the house, along a long row of tables placed together. The sun sets to provide the workers some comfort after the warm summer day. The couple serves the food, and smiles as they watch the families enjoying the simple delight of a meal together. For a moment, the workers are cared for by the couple. And through the workers joy, the couple is given the contentment they have longed for.

After the meal someone stands and says a prayer. The kids ask to sing their favorite spiritual song and praises rise to the one who is the source of joy and the answer to the problem of pain. and for a moment no one is deaf or blind to the needs of their brothers or sisters.

It is in this love that I would seek to dwell. Thanks be to God for his Word; for his rebuke. for his willingness to forgive me in spite of my days of chasing riches.

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