"I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour." (S.O.S. 8:10)
"In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing." (Zephaniah 3:16-17)
Nothing can make us more alive in the Lord than the faith of knowing His love never changes! Oddly enough, I just so happened to catch a little bit of a teaching yesterday on this very subject. I can't really remember who it was, but the topic was about how we might feel in those days when we sin, verses, how we might feel in those days when we are on fire and perform well. If we feel as though God does not love us in the days of sinning, then we must feel as though we deserve His love in those days we do not.
Interesting subject, to say the least; but when it comes right down to it, we live in a completely different time-zone than God! As Peter puts it: "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (2 Peter 3:8) Much is the same for how it works for predestination and free will: God knows the results of every single life that is lived; we can only know by living out our lives! Don't even try to figure that out; it would just be a waste of time.
Which brings me to this second observation, as I finished with yesterday's post: He has always loved you! Always has! Always will! Sometimes I have a problem seeing that as true; not because I might feel as though I am unworthy of His love, because I have no doubt of that being true: but because my heart will some days feel broken and all alone; almost as if His love is far off and unreachable. It really does not need to be about sin in my life, or about not seeing any answers to prayer; it is just a mood that seems to come and go; and it it usually unannounced and unpredictable.
Do you know what it means to be a friend? I know now more than ever, I have a friend in God! To get this right perspective, Matthew Henry says: With what joy and triumph we ought to speak of God's grace towards us, and with what satisfaction we should look back upon the special times and seasons when we were in his eyes as those that find favour; these were days never to be forgotten." This is a love that has common interests with one another! I feel good and best when I am doing those things that are pleasing in His sight; this is never anything to be ashamed of, but must be kept going and going, as much and as often as humanly possible!
Is it not right to feel remorse and out of love when we willfully sin? It absolutely is right! It should absolutely break our heart! Imagine how you might feel if you talked about a friend behind their back; now, imagine what that feeling should be like, if you knew that your friend was listening...
"Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all of this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You were ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves to God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:19-23) NLT
No comments:
Post a Comment