NOTES for Rom 10:14-21
One often hears the following view: “I do not want any intermediaries between God and me. I need no one else.” There is a grain of truth in this, for we are all called to a personal relationship with God. Through His Son, He comes to meet us, stretches out His hands to us, and calls us. But there is also a great danger here: we may substitute our emotions and intuitive premonitions for God’s will. Something seems to sound in our heart, and we take these sensations for a command from God. Sometimes God does speak to us even through this. But it is a very roundabout path, full of dangers. The apostle offers us the one path by which we may know the Lord’s purpose for us: the Word of God. It is the principal foundation on which our life must be built, for it contains the answers to every question. Figuratively speaking, it is our staple food, something without which it is very, very difficult for a Christian to live.
Here Paul’s words about hearing the Word of God become especially important—not merely listening, but hearing. We may swallow enormous chunks of Holy Scripture without reflecting and receive not a single answer to the questions that concern us every day. Or we may read a little at a time, reflecting on every word and on what the Lord wishes to tell us today about our life. Then every verse may surpass all our expectations, overturn all our assumptions, and open for us the way to the One who is the source of Eternal Life.