If you have ears

A word to the wise should be sufficient, a truth etched indelibly into my perspective finally sunk in. This missive gave reason for pause when peer pressure seemed the easier path or when giving self-permission for something my brain knew not to do but desired and won the argument. Mom, if you can read this from Heaven, thank you.

Most of Mom’s wisdom had a biblical base though she never quoted chapter and verse. She just had a goat-milking way of saying things that were not just true, but also truth. I preferred learning the hard way, a trait succumbing to time.

The word in Hebrew is shema, which means “to hear.” Not by happenstance, the word is also the name of a prayer found in Deuteronomy 6:4. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:4,5, NKJV). But more, the Shema is a commandment from God. Because Jesus expressed this as one of the two greatest commandments, we should sit up and take notice, the way I did when my mother repeated that phrase about some word being sufficient. I hated it when she said that.

Something meaningful happens when we recite the Shema, that is, if we are listening and wise. The word shema also means to obey. Obey sounds like something I would rather not do when I think there exists a better option, kind of like a rule I wish to break. But when we love God, really love Him, obeying becomes something to cherish, to desire, to find ways to become good at it.

We should think about it this way. When we leave the house to meet the day, what if God were our only appointment today? Not that we meet Him at 9:00 a.m. and have no other meetings, but what if God filled your 10, 11, lunch, etcetera. Maybe He also works in your workplace. Knowing God is our only audience today becomes an expression of hearing Him and obeying Him. Everywhere we go, there He is because truly, He is when we love Him with heart, soul, and strength.

There is another way. Loving God expresses a desire within to search Him, to know Him, to submit to His teaching that we may be transformed into what He wishes us to be. Hovering over Scripture does not suffice. Digging deep, like searching for a treasure, yields what He has prepared for us. Going to the field to dig for this treasure means we are coming toward Him, taking the proverbial Christian walk. But we find in our coming that He also meets us, even comes toward us, certainly was already there waiting. This is His love for us, a love we now desire to give in return because coming to this place allows us a leaving from it altogether changed and welcomed as the new life.

Hey, a word to the wise should be sufficient.

Keep digging. Keep walking.