The blessing of reading and looking deeply at God’s
Word is a blessing precisely because it allows us to draw close to God Himself,
who is the source of all blessing. We should then understand that the blessing
itself is not the point of drawing close to God - it is instead the just consequence
of drawing close to Him – the ‘collateral restoration’ of being near to Him.
Of course, there is nothing
wrong with drawing near to Him because we recognize our need for such a
blessing – just that doing so is not the highest or best motive for seeking
Him. That we operate largely out of wrong motives is an unfortunate reality for
all of us – we are fallen people living in a fallen world. Fear not, God is
gracious and well knows our frame! Yet there are some who would look at God’s
Word not to gain a blessing from God, but to gain a selfish advantage over
other people. Such people are not acting from mere foolishness, but from an
intent that must be recognized as pure evil.
The Magi had come to king
Herod, asking, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?”[1] But Herod
was not happy when he found that a rival to his title (King of the Jews) had
been born. “When
King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When
he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law,
he asked them where the Christ was to be born.” [2]
Even in asking this one question, Herod’s real motive is revealed.
Certainly, one might first think
that perhaps he wanted to know where Christ was born to answer the Magi’s
question. But remember that Herod was anything but a fool, and remember that
was raised as a Jew. Though he is disturbed by what he’s heard so far, his
mental state is not such that he is unable to think. He well knows that the
answer to the question must be within God’s Word. Yet he deliberately chooses not
look at it himself. Instead, he calls those he knows do have a knowledge of it
– the Jewish chief priests and the teachers of Jewish law, and tasks them with
finding out the answer.
We can know that this not a
matter of expediency, for the text says, “When he had called together all the
people’s chief priests and teachers of the law.” It would’ve taken some time to pull
everyone together – to call the scribes, dictate the place and time of the
meeting, send out messengers to all and then wait for them to respond. All of
that taking time that could have been instead used to study God’s Word himself.
Or at least with those already in the palace. But such an effort would only gain him the knowledge
of where Christ was to be born in to answer the Magi’s question. That’s not what
Herod sought. He thought it better that the evil intent of his heart might be satiated.
· Why do you read
God’s Word? Are you looking for Him, or
for His blessing, or for your own purposes?
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