Reasoning…

So God had me back in Mark 2 again.  I read it looking for what He wanted to show me and nothing jumped out.  He said read it again.  This time a word in verse 6 hit me… reasoning, “But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts…”

So I looked it up in the greek and the word is dialogizomai, meaning “to bring together different reasons, to reckon up the reasons, to reason, revolve in one’s mind, deliberate”.  It comes from two root words dia (essentially “through” and variations of that like “by reason of”) and logizomai, which means:

• to reckon, count, compute, calculate, count over
  • to take into account, to make an account of
    • metaph. to pass to one’s account, to impute
    • a thing is reckoned as or to be something, i.e. as availing for or equivalent to something, as having the like force and weight
  • to number among, reckon with
  • to reckon or account
• to reckon inward, count up or weigh the reasons, to deliberate
• by reckoning up all the reasons, to gather or infer
  • to consider, take into account, weigh, meditate on
  • to suppose, deem, judge
  • to determine, purpose, decide

At the bottom of the definition there is a note specifically called out that caught my eye:

This word deals with reality. If I reckon (logizomai) that my bank book has $25 in it, it has $25 in it. Otherwise I am deceiving myself. This word refers more to fact than supposition or opinion.

See the thing is this – they were looking at what they saw in the natural.  The things they felt were established fact.  These aren’t bad things necessarily, unless we use them to try to box God in or limit His abilities or (in this case) rights.

I may look at my personal circumstances and see the “fact” that I’m not sure how I will live next month, but the reality is that I don’t have to know!  God has said He’s got it, therefore He can be trusted regardless of how things appear in the natural.

Frequently, we use “facts” to talk ourselves out of our faith.  And although in this verse they’re only doing it to themselves, frequently in the Word they reason “among” themselves (e.g. Mat 16:7, Luk 20:14) – in other words TOGETHER.  How often do we do that?  Not just talk ourself out of faith, but someone else too?

Here’s something else that’s interesting, the greek word logizomai is also related to the word logos, which is a “word”.  However, when we consider Romans 10:17 – it’s not the same “word”:

So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

In this case “word” is rhema, which refers to the word uttered by a living voice.  So faith doesn’t come from logic and facts, faith comes from hearing the Lord speak!  And yes, He often will speak through His word (logos), but we need to seek His face – feel His breath so to speak as He utters His truth to our heart that we might understand rather than simply reason…

Lord help me to hear Your voice.  Help me to stop and listen.  I want to know Your thoughts and Your ways! I don’t want to miss You by staying rooted in “facts” that don’t represent Your truth.  Please, give me Your ears, Your eyes, Your heart… I want to be more like You.