Listening to the Spirit over the voice of man

by Ayvaunn Penn

hearing-from-God

It is not our job to understand the actions of others. God sees what we cannot see and knows what we do not know.

When God created man, He gave us each an immortal soul, and it is into this spirit that He often speaks. It is by God’s nudging of the spirit that people come to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. It is by God’s nudging of the spirit that believers then act in their God-given purpose. Though God moves our spirits to certain inclinations, however, He also created us as beings of free will. We are free to listen to God and heed His will while we are also totally at liberty to ignore Him. Of course the latter is not in our best interest, for surely the great I Am who created us knows what is best. And it is this, my friends, that brings us to today’s key text coming out of Matthew 26:6-13 (KJV):

Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. 

10 When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. 11 For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. 12 For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. 13 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.

The woman in this text was moved to anoint Jesus’ head with very expensive ointment. Who knows if even she knew why it was on her spirit to do so. What we do know, is that she listened to God’s nudging of her spirit.  Now, the disciples found her actions to be a bit out of place. They were not trying to be rude or mean towards her. They had good intentions and hearts of charity as the Lord would want them to have. However, what Jesus corrected them on is:

1.) Although our intentions may be good intentions, they may not always be the right intentions God intends at that time — hence, the need to keep our spiritual ears open for instruction from the Lord.

2.) It is not our job to understand the actions of others. God sees what we cannot see and knows what we do not know. Our only job as individuals is to trust God and be sure we are doing what He directs us to do.

This is what Jesus taught His disciples in that moment and ultimately us today. In modern words, Jesus told them, “No, no, no. Leave her alone. She did the right thing to anoint me with the ointment. What you don’t know is that this serves in preparation of my burial. Furthermore, wherever the gospel is spread, the story of this woman will be also that she may be remembered.”

As you go about your day and all the days to come, remember to listen to the Lord when He moves your spirit. It may not make sense at the time. Our peers may think they know better. We ourselves may even think we know better, but God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. As His word says, He will not lead us into temptation or deliver us into evil, so we are better off being in accordance with His will. Concerning the woman in this text, we are not informed of her name, if she is a believer or a non-believer, or even how she came to know that Jesus was at Simon’s house. What is emphasized, however, is the act she did towards Jesus, the disciples’ reaction, Jesus’ chastisement of the disciples, and Jesus’ honor and recognition of her.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

Comments (2)

  1. Good piece. The woman in the stOry was Mary of Bethany.(Gospel according to John 12).

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