Jesus replied, "Moses permitted divorce only as a concession to your hard hearts, but it was not what God had originally intended.
After letting this idea roll around in my soul for a while:
There is the real possibility that my heart can become so hard toward God that He has to step back from his original intention, acknowledge the hardness of my heart, and lay out my life’s path to accommodate my heart’s refusal to submit to Him. (see post “Hard Hearted Mercy”)
I’m overwhelmed by God’s mercy. God knows well my heart’s hard spots, and yet makes His love available to me unconditionally. I’m well loved, hard spots and all. What grace, to love me so. What mercy. His desire to be connected catalyzes His choice to make connection possible no matter what path I choose to take.
It’s like coming to the realization that everything your heart has every cried out for was always yours, you just didn’t see it. I tend to see the negative side of things. We’re so sin twisted that God has to make concessions for our hard hearts. I’m grateful for the reminder that God’s concession is a personal experience in mercy. His concession is His deep heart’s cry to be connected to us. Mercy always leaves an open door. Grace invites us to come. Love gives us the strength to walk through it. Connection and intimacy wait on the other side of the door. He chose to make it possible. I choose to walk through.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Hard Hearted Mercy
Jesus replied, "Moses permitted divorce only as a concession to your hard hearts, but it was not what God had originally intended.
Think about it, my heart can get so twisted and messed up that God’s original intention gets lost to the point where He chooses to make concessions for my hard heart. That blows my mind. There is the real possibility that my heart can become so hard toward God that He has to step back from his original intention, acknowledge the hardness of my heart, and lay out my life’s path to accommodate my heart’s refusal to submit to Him.
My first response is to ask, “Where are the hard, dead spots in my heart?” What do you intend for me that my heart, in sin, is so twisted up, that You have said, “Okay, here’s what we are going to change so you don’t totally and utterly destroy yourselves?”
For someone who’s pursuing after Jesus, seeking to live a life that is right, the idea that there may be something in my heart that is so entrenched, so hard, that Abba has to make allowances for it so I don’t utterly destroy myself is sobering to say the least. May the one who knows the beginning from the end continue to refine us until we become spotless and pure.
Think about it, my heart can get so twisted and messed up that God’s original intention gets lost to the point where He chooses to make concessions for my hard heart. That blows my mind. There is the real possibility that my heart can become so hard toward God that He has to step back from his original intention, acknowledge the hardness of my heart, and lay out my life’s path to accommodate my heart’s refusal to submit to Him.
My first response is to ask, “Where are the hard, dead spots in my heart?” What do you intend for me that my heart, in sin, is so twisted up, that You have said, “Okay, here’s what we are going to change so you don’t totally and utterly destroy yourselves?”
For someone who’s pursuing after Jesus, seeking to live a life that is right, the idea that there may be something in my heart that is so entrenched, so hard, that Abba has to make allowances for it so I don’t utterly destroy myself is sobering to say the least. May the one who knows the beginning from the end continue to refine us until we become spotless and pure.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Does God guide me or ride me?
The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.
Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.” Psalm 32:8,9
People often say, “God has to hit me in the head with a 2x4 to get my attention.” I can relate to that. I wonder sometimes if pain is the only thing that gets my attention. When my relationship with God is in 2x4 mode, David’s words cause me to pause. Do not be like a senseless horse or mules that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control. I’m not sure if they used 2x4’s in David’s time, but I like to think he’s speaking to the notion that God has to do something drastic to direct us or get our attention.
Given David’s words, my picture of a 2x4 has changed to a bit and bridle. So I ask the question, does God have to saddle me up and yank my reins to direct me to the best pathway for my life? Am I that senseless that unless He yanks my reins I’ll wander off into the field of non-usefulness or wander into traffic and get run over by an oncoming bus of disobedience? If a bit and bridle is the reality of my relationship with God, what does that say about me? What does that say about God?
Maybe I’m just plain lazy, or perhaps paralyzed by the fear of getting it wrong. So by sloth or by immobility, God has to rein me in the right direction. Sometimes my petrifaction is so severe that God must dismount and drag me by the reins. This vivid image, God dragging my petrified life to a place that I really do desire to go, motivates me to seek a relationship with God that is not based on the bit and bridle. So I’m pursuing a relationship where communication and respect are the expected norm and the rein to keep me from running off a cliff is the exception and not the rule.
The danger of the bit and bridle relationship is that God becomes the rider and we are the ridden. This type of relationship leads us to view God only as a rider and consists of waiting for God to give us the spurs or yank the reins. I have come to believe that God does not enjoy this type of relationship. The bit and bridle view of relationship leads one to believe that God enjoys being the rider, He is pleased to yank us around by the reins. Let’s go back to the 2x4. Do we think that God enjoys whacking us up side the head to get our attention? If we see God as a stern task master, the cruel rider, we just might think He enjoys whacking us up side the head to get our attention.
Let’s go back to being lazy. We don’t have to think if we’re being like a “senseless horse or mule”. It requires very little mental effort on our part. Very little emotional investment. Very little searching to find out what comes between God and our ability to be in intimate relationship with Him. When the Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” This requires mental, emotional, spiritual and physical energy from us. It’s hard work.
My challenge is to keep on it. It IS hard work, this business of being in relationship with our creator. When we ditch the bit and bridle it doesn’t take to long to realize that it’s a serious life commitment to be in relationship with God. The challenge is to keep on it. Keep seeking. Keep asking. Keep knocking. When it gets too hard, when God doesn’t make sense, when His voice isn’t readily heard, it can be appealing to fall back to the ole bit and bridle, to wait for the 2x4 upside the head. The choice is then mine. Senseless mule or faithful friend?
Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.” Psalm 32:8,9
People often say, “God has to hit me in the head with a 2x4 to get my attention.” I can relate to that. I wonder sometimes if pain is the only thing that gets my attention. When my relationship with God is in 2x4 mode, David’s words cause me to pause. Do not be like a senseless horse or mules that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control. I’m not sure if they used 2x4’s in David’s time, but I like to think he’s speaking to the notion that God has to do something drastic to direct us or get our attention.
Given David’s words, my picture of a 2x4 has changed to a bit and bridle. So I ask the question, does God have to saddle me up and yank my reins to direct me to the best pathway for my life? Am I that senseless that unless He yanks my reins I’ll wander off into the field of non-usefulness or wander into traffic and get run over by an oncoming bus of disobedience? If a bit and bridle is the reality of my relationship with God, what does that say about me? What does that say about God?
Maybe I’m just plain lazy, or perhaps paralyzed by the fear of getting it wrong. So by sloth or by immobility, God has to rein me in the right direction. Sometimes my petrifaction is so severe that God must dismount and drag me by the reins. This vivid image, God dragging my petrified life to a place that I really do desire to go, motivates me to seek a relationship with God that is not based on the bit and bridle. So I’m pursuing a relationship where communication and respect are the expected norm and the rein to keep me from running off a cliff is the exception and not the rule.
The danger of the bit and bridle relationship is that God becomes the rider and we are the ridden. This type of relationship leads us to view God only as a rider and consists of waiting for God to give us the spurs or yank the reins. I have come to believe that God does not enjoy this type of relationship. The bit and bridle view of relationship leads one to believe that God enjoys being the rider, He is pleased to yank us around by the reins. Let’s go back to the 2x4. Do we think that God enjoys whacking us up side the head to get our attention? If we see God as a stern task master, the cruel rider, we just might think He enjoys whacking us up side the head to get our attention.
Let’s go back to being lazy. We don’t have to think if we’re being like a “senseless horse or mule”. It requires very little mental effort on our part. Very little emotional investment. Very little searching to find out what comes between God and our ability to be in intimate relationship with Him. When the Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” This requires mental, emotional, spiritual and physical energy from us. It’s hard work.
My challenge is to keep on it. It IS hard work, this business of being in relationship with our creator. When we ditch the bit and bridle it doesn’t take to long to realize that it’s a serious life commitment to be in relationship with God. The challenge is to keep on it. Keep seeking. Keep asking. Keep knocking. When it gets too hard, when God doesn’t make sense, when His voice isn’t readily heard, it can be appealing to fall back to the ole bit and bridle, to wait for the 2x4 upside the head. The choice is then mine. Senseless mule or faithful friend?
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Life Orbits This Scar.
Life orbits this scar; self inflicted, etched by my own hand, the consequence of my choice.
This monument of torn flesh, revealed when the dust settles and completed after all is said and done, the tangible reminder that I’m not who I want to be.
I can remedy this scar as well as I can recover a lost moment or turn a gray hair dark again.
Living with this frantic desire to hide it and this overwhelming need to reveal it, it fights for possession of my heart, assails my spirit, binds my soul in chains.
This scar. My Scar. A defining mark. The lasting reminder.
He placed His scarred hand over this scar, my scar, this monument to who I have become.
His scar swathes my own.
Life orbits his scar, this chosen exchange, etched by my own hand, the consequences of my choice.
This monument to his torn flesh, revealed the third day, after the dust settled, completed by the words “it is finished”, the tangible reminder that because He is, I am.
His scar is redemption, making all things new.
Living with a quite desire for deeper intimacy and an overwhelming need to share this love, my heart is free, my spirit at peace, my soul, unbound.
This scar. His scar. The defining mark. An everlasting reminder.
This monument of torn flesh, revealed when the dust settles and completed after all is said and done, the tangible reminder that I’m not who I want to be.
I can remedy this scar as well as I can recover a lost moment or turn a gray hair dark again.
Living with this frantic desire to hide it and this overwhelming need to reveal it, it fights for possession of my heart, assails my spirit, binds my soul in chains.
This scar. My Scar. A defining mark. The lasting reminder.
He placed His scarred hand over this scar, my scar, this monument to who I have become.
His scar swathes my own.
Life orbits his scar, this chosen exchange, etched by my own hand, the consequences of my choice.
This monument to his torn flesh, revealed the third day, after the dust settled, completed by the words “it is finished”, the tangible reminder that because He is, I am.
His scar is redemption, making all things new.
Living with a quite desire for deeper intimacy and an overwhelming need to share this love, my heart is free, my spirit at peace, my soul, unbound.
This scar. His scar. The defining mark. An everlasting reminder.
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