{"id":1145,"date":"2020-06-27T20:59:07","date_gmt":"2020-06-27T19:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lloydstock.com\/blog\/?p=1145"},"modified":"2020-07-02T20:26:25","modified_gmt":"2020-07-02T19:26:25","slug":"what-does-a-thankful-response-to-gods-grace-look-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.lloydstock.com\/blog\/?p=1145","title":{"rendered":"What Does a Thankful Response to God Look like?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Imagine you are David, King David. How would you demonstrate your thankful heart to your God? Something dramatic perhaps &#8211; a large banquet, a celebration or a big communal offering at the temple? At very least it would surely involve a daily commitment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Perfect Response<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The perfect response in fact is not sacrifice, not an offering, none of the above. Rather, it is &#8211; an open ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; <strong>mine ears hast thou opened<\/strong>: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.<\/p><cite>Psalm 40.6<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes you are reading &#8211; or better, &#8216;hearing&#8217;, that correctly. This may come as a bit of a shock. Sacrifice has so much more drama to it and it was after all the means of atonement. Yet, without a teachable spirit, without a willingness to listen, without a heart that was open to God\u2019s instruction, sacrifice and burnt offering could easily be empty rituals. An open ear is antecedent to all outward show of thankfulness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is an ear <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-1145-1' id='fnref-1145-1' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(1145)'>1<\/a><\/sup> which is positively, generously given to the business of listening. Like a disciple that hangs on every word of his masters voice, like a child who is captivated by a wonderful story teller, their ears draw them in, engrossing them in the business of the speaker\u2019s words. It is an intellectual, spiritual and active kind of listening &#8211; listening that has the full intention of acting without reservation on the things being laid out (cf. Prov. 8).<br>Apparently one cannot underestimate the simple value of a heart that is disposed to listen, love and obey. This has always been the response God has wanted. From Abel (Matthew 23:35), down to you, it is what God wants in the faithful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now think of this &#8211; that God\u2019s Son, the eternal Son of God &#8211; adopted this very disposition &#8211; even though it ultimately meant the death of a cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Perfect Dedication<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Look again at Psalm 40. The Psalmist goes on to describe the character of someone who has an open ear. He delights to do God&#8217;s will. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>I delight to do Thy will, O My God: (cf. John 4:34).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The open ear of the Lord Jesus affected his whole ministry. We can describe it as having:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Conditioned him: &#8220;wist ye not that I must be about my Father&#8217;s business?&#8221; (Luke 2:49)<\/li><li>Energised him: Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work (John 4.34)<\/li><li>Controlled him: Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do&#8230;(John 5:19)<\/li><li>Empowered him: I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me (John 5:30).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We often speak of the tireless work of the Saviour, the travelling here and there, the way he spent himself in service. But it is remarkable to think that all the work that he did, was &#8216;Thy will, O My God&#8217;.  When he went into the wilderness to be tempted, when he called his team of disciples to himself rather than blaze-the-trail on his own, when he cleansed lepers, healed paralytics, when he went through the corn fields on the Sabbath, when he taught by the seaside, when he sent the demons into swine, everything he said, everywhere he went, every situation he found himself in &#8211; it was all, without reservation done in accordance with his fathers will. Allow that long sentence to sink in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hard to imagine, stifling even &#8211; to never exercise unilateral power &#8211; yet, it was his delight. He took pleasure in doing the will of another. Flawlessly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It also:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Vindicated him: So Jesus said to them, \u201cWhen you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me (John 8.28).<\/li><li>Concealed him: Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works (John 14:10).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Oh for dedication like this. Ada Ruth Habershon had it about right when she wrote<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Lie still, and let Him mould thee! Oh, Lord, I would obey; <br>Be Thou the skillful Potter, And I the yielding clay.<br>Bend me, oh, bend me to Thy will,<br>While in Thy hand I\u2019m lying still.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>So we learn the proper response of a thankful heart, an open ear. With that in order, all other things that follow will be saved from being empty ritual. Rather they will be loaded with faith, sincerity and glory for God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Perfect Work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>But this all led to the cross did it not? Is that the end of those who&#8217;s ear is open? Not according to Hebrews 10.12. This glorious man is no longer in the grave but sat down, at the right hand of God no-less. It turns out that an open ear is the way to blessing, wonderful, glorious blessing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the Hebrew writer (quoting Psalms) reminds us, the work is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Done only once &#8211; a perfectly open ear, enabled Christ to be successful on his first and only offering for sin. There was no need to repeat. (Heb. 10.10).<\/li><li>Forever finished &#8211; the horror of Calvary never needs to be repeated (Heb. 10.12). There was nothing left undone by the one who heard and did all that the Father willed for him.<\/li><li>Immeasurably valuable. You and are I are found to be forever perfect in Gods sight. The value of a work done by a man with an open ear is truly immeasurable (Heb. 10.14).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>And it&#8217;s value could be enjoyed further by us today if we would but respond in thankfulness like David did and open our own ears, unreservedly, to the Father&#8217;s will for us.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class='footnotes' id='footnotes-1145'><div class='footnotedivider'><\/div><ol><li id='fn-1145-1'> The Hebrew word for &#8216;open ear&#8217; is literally, &#8216;digged&#8217;. This suggests the removal of all material that might impede hearing so as to guarantee audible fidelity . <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-1145-1'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine you are David, King David. How would you demonstrate your thankful heart to your God? Something dramatic perhaps &#8211; a large banquet, a celebration or a big communal offering at the temple? At very least it would surely involve a daily commitment? Perfect Response The perfect response in fact is not sacrifice, not an&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[3,64],"class_list":["post-1145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional-2","tag-devotional","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lloydstock.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lloydstock.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lloydstock.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lloydstock.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lloydstock.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1145"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.lloydstock.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1159,"href":"http:\/\/www.lloydstock.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145\/revisions\/1159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lloydstock.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lloydstock.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lloydstock.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}