Ta-Dah! Treasure

“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:11

In my attempt to be a “good Lutheran,” I attended Sunday services.

Sometimes, to qualify, as a teenager, for the standard confirmation classes, leading to the denominational rite of passage. It was about “being confirmed in the Lutheran Church.”

Quite important.

Sometimes, as an adult, I tried to find my “home church.”

No matter what age or stage I was, I spent many Sunday mornings in various churches, following along with the church bulletin.

Singing hymns from the hymnal. Going through the routine of “the service.”

It felt disconnected from the Bible. That gigantic book was a separate monolith, unto itself.

So, I kept mostly focusing on the bulletin, the hymnal, the “routine service.”

It didn’t take too long to memorize aspects of it.

It changed little, from Sunday to Sunday.

I had no idea I was on a treasure hunt.

Sure, I knew I wanted “more.”

I wanted to seek, to know “more.”

I wanted to seek and find HIM “more.”

I just didn’t feel I was doing it correctly most of the time.

Where was I going? Where was all this leading?

The term, “Rhema Word.”

“…Derived from ancient Greek, “rhema” translates to “that which is spoken.” In the context of religious texts, it denotes the utterances or teachings articulated by the divine. The term “Word of God,” on the other hand, encompasses the entirety of sacred scriptures, encompassing both written and oral traditions.

When amalgamated, it signifies the specific, spoken revelations or messages from the divine, elucidating the profound intimacy between the believer and the divine presence…”

What is the Rhema Word of God?

That was what was at play here. I had no idea the places it would take me.

From Lutheran Church to Lutheran Church.

From the Midwest, to the West Coast, to Dallas, Texas, back to the Midwest, and then, finally to the East Coast.

Where it finally “dawned on me.”

A “Rhema Word?”

Or a “Duh- Moment?”

It felt, almost embarrassingly so, as that second option.

For when this situation “dawned on me,” I was a grown woman who probably “should have” put the puzzle pieces together a lot quicker than I did.

After all, I was a person of faith for decades. I read the Bible. I memorized certain scriptures.

My faith walk was important to me.

Why was this “Duh- Moment,” then, such a “Rhema Word?”

Maybe, because I had mistaken His Word for a part of a church bulletin or service.

“Making the word of (YAH) God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

Mark 7:13

“For laying aside the commandment of (YAH) God, you hold the tradition of men— the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”

Mark 7:8

My “Rhema Word?”

While in pain, in grief over my mother’s passing, in a major life changing era, I was drawn to Psalm 51.

There’s a lot of lamenting, begging for forgiveness, asking for cleansing there.

And something else, that was ALSO there?

“Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from Your Presence;

take not Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your Salvation,

And uphold me with Your Free Spirit.”

Psalm 51:10-12

Yeah, so?

Scripture. Uh-huh. We get it.

Nothing earth-shattering about that.

You happen to find Scripture in, I oh, don’t know… the Bible?

Ta-dah!

But it WAS Ta-Dah.

Origin- story- of- Lutheran- denomination- Ta-dah.

I did not put it together that, incorporated within all those Lutheran Church Sunday mornings, as part of “the service,” Psalm 51:10-12 was a built- in staple.

I, unfamiliar with the whole of Psalm 51, mistakenly assumed that this bit of singing was just a part of the “program,” lumping it in with the morning’s choice of hymns and recited declarations.

I had not “dawned on me” that no, this was actually His living Word.

And it came alive in revelatory power, just months ago, when I made the connection…

“Hey, wait a minute, I used to sing that. I still have it memorized. I was singing Scripture THE ENTIRE TIME?”

(You had to be there).

But “there” was where I landed.

After years, after living from place to place, after a faith walk that has been “complicated,” I arrived there.

And I found treasure. Ta-dah Treasure.

“I rejoice at Your word as one who finds great treasure.”

Psalm 119:162

It connected me to comfort, like, I suppose, was the entire point of Psalms 51.

My heart needed Psalm 51:10-12.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from Your Presence;

take not Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your Salvation,

And uphold me with Your Free Spirit.”

Sung then and there. Recollected, here and now.

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Matthew 6:21

I have had other “Rhema Words” before in my life: Mark 5:35-43 and Mark 9:24 being two life-changing examples.

So, what was so special about Psalm 51:10-12?

For me now, at this point in my life, it serves as a bridge.

My past and my now.

It showed up, full force, now, letting me know I am more connected to Him than I realized I was.

That was startling to me.

I thought my Lutheran Church Sunday mornings were mostly a thing of the past.

But no.

Because it wasn’t about a Lutheran Church. It wasn’t about “then.”

It was about now, and how evergreen, how eternal and relevant He, AT HIS WORD, is.

Ta-dah!

I was… connected.

So yes, I did some rejoicing about that.

“I rejoice at Your word as one who finds great treasure.”

Psalm 119:162

 

ABBA FATHER-

We come to You, in The Name of Your Son, Our Savior, Yahshua.

Thank You that You ARE Your Word. And YOU, AS YOUR WORD accomplish was YOU set out to do (Isaiah 55:11).

Be that uniquely and lovingly for us, right now. Today. In our circumstances.

Be more than a “Rhema Word.” Be Yourself.

Show us Who You are to us.

Reveal Your Loving Nature through the Treasure of Your Word.

Make it come alive.

Teach and help us to learn Who You are.

Thank You.

In the Name of Yahshua we pray,

Amen.

 

Copyright © 2025 by Sheryle Cruse