"Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame." (S.O.S. 8:6)
"Can a woman forget her suckling child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet I will not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." (Isaiah 49:15-16)
As to the whole, "Counting It All Joy," element of the last few days, it is important that we have at least a basic understanding of what is real, otherwise we are just chasing happiness. Joy is not found in the things that flee and cannot be held onto; at least not the joy that cannot be taken away by disappointment and despair. The whole point of "Counting" is to weight the value of what we have been given; as Matthew Henry sums it up: "After the bitter pangs of repentance many a one has had the blessed birth of comfort: why then may not I?"
Another way to see this understanding, it is a little bit like what God did to Abraham when He made him fall in love, sick love at that, for his descendants which would be slaves in a foreign land. We find this in Genesis 15, as God shows Abraham what will take place in the lives of those who are of His promise to him, as children from his seed. Basically God took the seed from something promised, and He planted that seed within Abrahams heart where it was given life. Not just life that lives and breaths; but life that causes pain and joy and hope and love. These are the things we get to experience in real life with those that love.
It pretty much erases the doubt when it leaves a scar on your heart! Anywho, this is a little bit like that, but more like a little kidney stone; it is so small, but it can cause a whole lot or pain, especially when you try and rest. If I could illustrate what I think this means to me, it would be that part of me that might think I really don't matter that much to God. It's really not that I don't believe He loves me, but that I don't sometimes think He is jealous for me, enough to passionately love me, as I should know that He does!
You would think by now I would have learned a lesson and came to the understanding, I usually feel that way when there is unconfessed sin in my heart. But this is not always the case, because there are times it might be felt even after the most deep and powerful fellowship, whether in prayer or in reading His word, or even in a powerful retreat or conference or church service. There is another little bit that I would like to relate it to, a bite! A big huge bite that is taken out of my heart; let's just call it, Longing, as we long to be complete, never again to be taken apart.
I forewarned you in the beginning, there would be many times the same Scriptures would be used...
"And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow -not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below -indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39) NLT
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