Ugh! Straight through the heart and in between the
eyes! Pass the tissues please! Week 4’s sermon really hit me hard.
“This
covenant hinges on Me. I AM the one
responsible for its fulfillment. I AM
its guarantee.” My first reaction to hearing this? Relief. I was surprised that I felt a burden lifted
and a sense of lightness that I wasn’t expecting. He is the One making this deal. He is the One making this bet. I just need to say AMEN! Thank you, God, that you are God to us! I also felt extremely cared for because God
initiates with us. He reaches down and
in to us. What a security to know that if God is this covenant's guarantee, it is secure. I couldn’t help but
note the I AM statements made here – a recent running theme God is having me
pay attention to these last few weeks. My view and experience of communion has grown so much deeper after these last few weeks, particularly after listening to this sermon. It is so profound. Can we get any closer to God or experience his Good Caress, His reaching down, His touch, His promise than when we are consuming His body and drinking His blood? I think not. We are physically taking in this “cut” of his covenant to us. It is during these sacred times that, as Darrell puts it, we are at the feet of the covenant-maker.
How can I know that if I should collapse under the pressures of life that you will be there to pick up the pieces and make me whole? How can I know in those moments of overwhelming darkness that your light is going to break through to me? These “How can I know?” statements got me. I couldn’t help but put my own “How can I knows” in there.
How can I know that your story for my life is going to
work out?
How can I know that I am going to get married?
How can I know that I will have a family of my own?
How can I know that it is not too late when everything in
my life is saying it is?
How can I know that you won’t leave me like this forever?
The scary thing is that when it comes to desires for my
own life and how it will turn out, there are no promises. God does not promise marriage, a family, a
fulfillment of dreams, goals, and desires.
He does not. And this is a hard,
hard pill to swallow. So what does one
do? Well, here is what I am trying to do. I am trying to focus on what he DOES promise. Nina, I will always be with you. Nina, I promise to always love you. Nina, I promise I will never leave you. Nina, I promise your sins will be forgiven and remembered no more. Nina, I promise to be your God. Nina, I promise I am your guarantee. Nina, remember it is My GRACE, My POWER, My WISDOM, My GOODNESS, and My MERCY that enfolds you and that you can lean into. All of this belongs to you. Come, sit at My feet and be in covenant with ME.
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ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing Nina. Love the delicate invitational quality that you portray in God's bidding for you to sit at His feet. Your words about our first love and groom brought to mind "Even Better Than the Real Thing" by your buddy Bono. I hope that as God walks hand in hand with you through the mountains and valleys of your soul you find his kindness and goodness far better than any real thing you've encountered.
ReplyDeleteIn Hosea 2 God romances Israel from spurning His love for things of this world. Your post placed me in the dramatic tension of the covenant lover pursuing w/ steadfast love His beloved. I've copied and pasted some highlights of this incredible passage which expresses God's heart for His bride:
“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’
And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety.
And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.
I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.”
Hope this doesn’t come off as preachy. I’m trying to capture this: I felt very convicted and inspired by your heart’s cry to hold on the “REAL THING” as your light, hope, faith, and first love. (Note: First comment had the bible verse duplicated :))
Steve, Thank you for your thoughtful response and for the reference to Hosea. That is a great passage for me to go back to and read again...and again. Yes,The "Real Thing" is all we have got. My mind always knows it (I know that I know that I know), which I am so grateful, but sometimes it takes my heart a while to know it. The Hosea covenant is a great reminder for the heart!
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