Psalm 40:8

"I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."

My NKJV says, "I delight to do your will." I love both ideas.

From the time He hears the call, Jesus' old life is behind Him. Not that He rejects His family. But family is expanded and redefined: "'Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?' And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother'" (Matthew 12:46-50). He knows one desire now---to do the Father's will as disclosed by the streaming of the Spirit.

"The Son can do nothing on his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel" (John 5:19-20).

It is a life not many of us are accustomed to, following our programs and pre-set career paths. Religion for Jesus is not a program but a Person. Jesus is the Existentialist par excellence. He lives in pinpoint obedience to the Spirit. By practice (Hebrews 5:14) He has learned to discern which "interruptions" He is meant to follow and which are only derailing Him from His mission. Oh, to have that sensitivity. Let us pray for it! Lord, make us increasingly sensitive to your Spirit's softest whisper! Amen.

He is dragged out into the absolute insecurity of following the Voice, wherever it may lead. I have a friend named Kathleen who wakes up every morning and says to God: "You are in me. I am in you. Where are we going today, Father?" Romans 6:13 tells us: "Present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness."

What is the "law" in Jesus' heart but the identical transcript of the Father's heart, will, and desires. And the Father's heart is a heart of love that pursues and that is constantly wanting to enfold more people. So Jesus sits at the well and strikes up a conversation with a woman there. She is the wrong kind and it is the wrong place. But old rules don't apply. This is new wine in new wineskins. No place better to be right now that with a five-times married Samarian dame of ill-repute.

I have heard it said that the difference between an introvert and an extrovert is that the extrovert derives energy from being with people, while the introvert derives energy from being by himself. That may be so, but this feeling of refreshment and fullness Jesus is experiencing in the act of speaking to this woman are more than psychological. They are the Spirit's very anointing on his obedience.

I experience the palest adumbration of it last year at the cemetery where I was taking a walk. I saw a man at a distance, with his face to the high wall of the mausoleum, his hands on one of the large flat squares and his body rocking back and forth like a worshipper at the Wailing Wall. As I got closer I heard the wailing and thought to keep a respectful distance. I thought I heard the Lord say, "Go talk to him." I was afraid and said, "If you give me something to say." No message was given and I thought I was off the hook.

I kept walking in his direction---still with no message---and came up behind him. I found myself gently rubbing his back. He kept wailing and only turned slightly in my direction. "My mother" was all he said. I asked if he knew Jesus. No answer. I asked if I could pray for him. He nodded. I prayed some forgettable prayer and went on my way.

What I noticed is a lightness in my step and the taste of liberation and a sense that next time will be easier. I remember saying, to no one in particular, "I have food to eat that you know nothing of."

To read Andrée Seu's series on Psalm 40, click here.

To hear commentaries by Andrée Seu, click here.