I look at the muddy, brown, gray, dead, landscape around me and am tempted to think of the symbolism it gives me about state of my heart.
And then I am reminded of all of the life teeming beneath the surface of this world around me...the magic and mystery of spring. When water and sunlight collide and life emerges from a seemingly dead land.
"O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in your sanctuary, beholding your POWER and GLORY. Because your steadfast LOVE is better than life, my lips will praise you. So will I bless your name as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands." Psalm 63:1-4
Spring gives HOPE. The coming of spring after a long, hard winter is a classic illustrative metaphor. But sometimes our hearts need springtime too. Our hearts need HOPE.
"Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the ROCK that is higher than I, for you have been a refuge, a strong tower against the enemy." Psalm 61:1-2
Hope is life. But this week, I was reminded of the fragility of life. Our hope is not here, but in eternal life. In our Isaiah Bible Study about God, we are learning about the MIGHT, POWER and SOVEREIGNTY of God. His absolute control of history and individual lives. In this week's study there was a question that stood out, "When is it acceptable to question God?" The appropriate and Biblical answer to that would be, "Never." But in my heart I wanted to write, "When there is the death of an innocent child." Because that's what our family has been unwilling witnesses to this week - the death of an innocent child. A tragic accident...ten minutes alone...the what ifs and maybes and the desire to go back and change the past. The intense emotions, the prayers, tears...we have participated in these as Believers in the Body of Christ should...but by the grace of Christ, it hasn't been us at the hospital all week receiving bad news from surgeons; it's not our pain or our tragedy.
Why?
New believers are like tender plants in spring time. Too much frost, too much sun, too much water, too much wind...all these can kill a small plant. And in spiritual warfare, when you are grappling with cold, hard realities like death, and wrestling with questions such as, "Why would you take my son?", it is like huge blasts of icy wind that can kill infant faith.
Or it can make you stronger.
Sometimes "old" Christians, can feel young. Not new or fresh...but weary, tender, vulnerable, weak...I look at another's pain and I wonder, "Why not me...US?" And I look at the state of my heart - my worries, my desires, my complaints, my wants...me, me, me, my, my, my...and am overwhelmed with acid disgust at my selfishness. My self-centeredness. My sins. My...my...my...
Your Righteouness.
Like light behind a cloud, I am reminded of something bigger then myself...stronger...more glorious...more agonizing...more passionate. And like the hot rays of the sun the TRUTH bursts forth in a song more ancient than Time, more fulfilling then LOVE or ANSWERS...
"I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like a mist; RETURN to me, for I HAVE REDEEMED YOU. SING, O Heavens, for the LORD has done it; SHOUT, O depths of the earth; break forth into SINGING, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the LORD has REDEEMED Jacob, and will be GLORIFIED in Israel." Isaiah 44:22-23
"HE has REDEEMED my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the LIGHT." Job 33:28
"Break forth together into SINGING, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted His people; he has REDEEMED Jerusalem." Isaiah 52:9
"Christ REDEEMED US, from the curse of the LAW..." Galatians 3:13
Death and life...winter and spring...this earth is a cycle. There is no end to suffering, sickness, death, depression, riots, lies, selfishness, idolatry, bloodshed, murder, ignorance, war, destruction...the list goes on and on...It is the universe we live in. Marred by sin. Eating away, trying to destroy us, destroy who we are and Who we stand in.
But we are not of this world.
We are not part of this cycle of death and sin...though it affects us deeply, painfully.
We are of Another Kingdom.
We have been given HOPE, the eternal Springtime of the heart. Through His life in us we have ABUNDANT LIFE, HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, STEADFAST LOVE, HIS GLORIOUS LIGHT...all these things we walk in, bending low perhaps in the force of spiritual winds and battles, but not breaking. Not always getting our answers, or the answers we want - but confident in this very thing...He who began the GOOD WORK in us, WILL FINISH IT.
March on...march on. Singing as we go...
"THE LORD HAS REDEEMED US."
And then I am reminded of all of the life teeming beneath the surface of this world around me...the magic and mystery of spring. When water and sunlight collide and life emerges from a seemingly dead land.
"O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in your sanctuary, beholding your POWER and GLORY. Because your steadfast LOVE is better than life, my lips will praise you. So will I bless your name as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands." Psalm 63:1-4
Spring gives HOPE. The coming of spring after a long, hard winter is a classic illustrative metaphor. But sometimes our hearts need springtime too. Our hearts need HOPE.
"Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the ROCK that is higher than I, for you have been a refuge, a strong tower against the enemy." Psalm 61:1-2
Hope is life. But this week, I was reminded of the fragility of life. Our hope is not here, but in eternal life. In our Isaiah Bible Study about God, we are learning about the MIGHT, POWER and SOVEREIGNTY of God. His absolute control of history and individual lives. In this week's study there was a question that stood out, "When is it acceptable to question God?" The appropriate and Biblical answer to that would be, "Never." But in my heart I wanted to write, "When there is the death of an innocent child." Because that's what our family has been unwilling witnesses to this week - the death of an innocent child. A tragic accident...ten minutes alone...the what ifs and maybes and the desire to go back and change the past. The intense emotions, the prayers, tears...we have participated in these as Believers in the Body of Christ should...but by the grace of Christ, it hasn't been us at the hospital all week receiving bad news from surgeons; it's not our pain or our tragedy.
Why?
New believers are like tender plants in spring time. Too much frost, too much sun, too much water, too much wind...all these can kill a small plant. And in spiritual warfare, when you are grappling with cold, hard realities like death, and wrestling with questions such as, "Why would you take my son?", it is like huge blasts of icy wind that can kill infant faith.
Or it can make you stronger.
Sometimes "old" Christians, can feel young. Not new or fresh...but weary, tender, vulnerable, weak...I look at another's pain and I wonder, "Why not me...US?" And I look at the state of my heart - my worries, my desires, my complaints, my wants...me, me, me, my, my, my...and am overwhelmed with acid disgust at my selfishness. My self-centeredness. My sins. My...my...my...
Your Righteouness.
Like light behind a cloud, I am reminded of something bigger then myself...stronger...more glorious...more agonizing...more passionate. And like the hot rays of the sun the TRUTH bursts forth in a song more ancient than Time, more fulfilling then LOVE or ANSWERS...
"I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like a mist; RETURN to me, for I HAVE REDEEMED YOU. SING, O Heavens, for the LORD has done it; SHOUT, O depths of the earth; break forth into SINGING, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the LORD has REDEEMED Jacob, and will be GLORIFIED in Israel." Isaiah 44:22-23
"HE has REDEEMED my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the LIGHT." Job 33:28
"Break forth together into SINGING, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted His people; he has REDEEMED Jerusalem." Isaiah 52:9
"Christ REDEEMED US, from the curse of the LAW..." Galatians 3:13
Death and life...winter and spring...this earth is a cycle. There is no end to suffering, sickness, death, depression, riots, lies, selfishness, idolatry, bloodshed, murder, ignorance, war, destruction...the list goes on and on...It is the universe we live in. Marred by sin. Eating away, trying to destroy us, destroy who we are and Who we stand in.
But we are not of this world.
We are not part of this cycle of death and sin...though it affects us deeply, painfully.
We are of Another Kingdom.
We have been given HOPE, the eternal Springtime of the heart. Through His life in us we have ABUNDANT LIFE, HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, STEADFAST LOVE, HIS GLORIOUS LIGHT...all these things we walk in, bending low perhaps in the force of spiritual winds and battles, but not breaking. Not always getting our answers, or the answers we want - but confident in this very thing...He who began the GOOD WORK in us, WILL FINISH IT.
March on...march on. Singing as we go...
"THE LORD HAS REDEEMED US."
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