Lovingkindness & Tender Mercy

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies..." Psalm 103:2-4

I spent all afternoon pondering this passage and the glorious depth it contains in such simple words. God saves and heals and redeems. Then, as if that was not enough, He crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies.

To put it in perspective, consider this: God's forgiveness alone is magnificent. The perfect God - the One without flaw or fault - took every single dirty, putrid sin from our defiled selves and placed them on Himself. He took those who had sold themselves into slavery to death and bought them back at the price of His life. He paid the price of salvation for the unlovely, the uncaring, and the utterly worthless. His blood covers sinfulness so completely that when He looks at us He sees only His perfection. THAT is salvation.

If God never did another good thing for you for the rest of your life, His salvation alone would make Him worthy of your unending praise and constant devotion. Were every breath a grateful prayer, every heartbeat marked a sacrifice of praise, and every moment spent in thanksgiving, you would never be able to repay Christ for His redemption.

But wait! He not only saves. And heals. And redeems. But THEN He garnishes your life with His lovingkindness and tender mercies. Like a father surprising His child with an unexpected present just to watch their delight, so God infuses your days with wonderful and beautiful gifts. The sunrise, the wildflowers, colors and sights and sounds and smells, relationships, the desires of your heart, the comfort of His Holy Spirit, the joy of His friendship, His wisdom, His counsel, His affection...He didn't have to bless you with them.

He just wanted to see you smile.

Teachable

"Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths." Psalm 25:4

"Blessed are You, O Lord! Teach me Your statutes." Psalm 119:12

"Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O Lord, and teach Your law." Psalm 94:12

"Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe Your commandments." Psalm119:66

It has long been the desire of the righteous man to learn wisdom. Those who pursue God pursue His heart, His ways, His teachings, His commands, and, yes, even His discipline. They cry out to understand Him more clearly and to walk with Him more closely.

Teachable humility is not a natural attitude for us poor humans. Arrogance is a more common reaction coming from our fallen natures. We attempt to put our best side forward and cover our flaws so no one will notice. We react violently if anyone points out an imperfection hollering about how judgmental they are, or complaining that they are just too hard on us. We excuse our own sin problems because we have an oh-so-good reason to be just like we are, and we expect others to excuse us as well. After all, no one is perfect...

But, in doing so we stunt our growth. We can not be changed "from glory to glory" until we finally let go of our incorrect belief in our own goodness and let God remake us into what is truly good and really righteous.

I read the Proverbs and see a pattern - a hungering cry for the wisdom of God. I read David's heart through the Psalms and notice his dedication to becoming daily more like his God. I see Daniel studying, Joseph giving himself to training, Samuel with an attentive ear, Timothy the apprentice apostle, even mighty Paul spending his 13 years relearning the Law he knew by heart.

I notice a trend: the best Christians are those who love to be taught in the school of holiness. They are transparent before their God, allowing Him to put His finger on whatever weakness He sees. They are willing for Him to train them as He deems fit. They let Him to use the circumstances and the people He chooses in that training. They do not shrink from even the hardest lessons or the most painful of discipline. They love to learn by whatever means possible. They embrace instruction. They are TEACHABLE!

"My son, if you receive my words,

And treasure my commands within you,

So that you incline your ear to wisdom,

And apply your heart to understanding;

Yes, if you cry out for discernment,

And lift up your voice for understanding,

If you seek her as silver,

And search for her as for hidden treasures;

Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,

And find the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom;

From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;

He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;

He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;

He guards the paths of justice,

And preserves the way of His saints.

Then you will understand righteousness and justice,

Equity and every good path."

Proverbs 2:1-9

Those Who Dwell...

"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty...Surely He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence..." -Psalm 91:1,3

He who lives, abides, finds his home in deep and real companionship with God will be covered by the protection of the God whose strength greatly exceeds all His enemies. He will be safe, sheltered, comforted, kept under the jurisdiction of the Commander of the Hosts of Heaven - the One who thunders from Heaven to respond with fiery anger to wreak havoc on any that would harm His beloved.


He will deliver that child, that close friend who dwells near Him from the snare of the fowler.
Hunters would hide traps in tall grass to catch the feet of birds as they walked through unsuspectingly. Our God keeps us from falling into the iniquities that we might fail to foresee, or the harm that could come to us when we can't notice the danger ahead. He watches over us to direct us around the devil's traps that trip us up, and cause us to fall when we aren't aware.
The one who is close, who lives daily, hourly in the God's presence will know God's voice as He directs Him carefully through the minefield the enemy of his soul has laid for him. He will be kept safe because he is familiar with the voice of God and is quick to obey that leading.

God will deliver His own - His friends - from the perilous pestilence. He will come between the fearsome plague that come to cause great destruction. He guards us from the things we can't overcome. He keeps death and destruction at bay. When cultures fall around us, when society is drenched in wickedness, when we aren't sure how to keep ourselves or our children safe from being swept into the tide of evil, our God comes to be our great and mighty protector.  The one who makes his home at the feet of God can be sure He will never be overcome by an irresistible evil. Though ten thousand fall at his right side, it can not come near because the Almighty God is his protection.  The friend of God knows his God is greater than any and every wickedness, so he does not fear. He knows evil is the enemy of His God, so he will not succumb to it.

Stay close to God today. Remain near Him tomorrow. Learn to live - not just visit - His presence. Don't make an appearance in His secret place, stay there! This is more than a daily Bible reading plan, or a quick prayer before work. This is stopping to make His voice priority. This is halting in the madness of life to push everything else aside to just listen. This is not just being a servant of God, this is being His FRIEND.

Butterfly

Are you torn, little friend?
Torn between two realities.
Torn between who you were and who you've been declared. One clutching at you from the drudgery you called life, and one beckoning you from ahead.
How do you make it?
How do you stick it out?
How do you handle the transformation process?
Are there days when the end result seems so near you can almost taste it, then days when you're not sure if you have the courage to wait out the pain?

Was before so bad?
Open fields and springtime skies. Colorful blossoms and companions to share it with. Sure, there were hard times...you were fair game for the bigger and stronger. Sure you were worms, eking out a living on the ground. Sure you knew you were made to become something better.

Do you know what's coming?
Did you know the promise? The promise for all your ugliness to be turned to beauty. Do you remember trying to find fulfillment and satisfaction, to be full, only to find that everything was tough and tasteless just like always? Did you ever look longingly at one who had been transformed and realizing that they could soar, while...you only crawled.  They were able to draw the sweetness from life and soak in every beautiful moment. Is that hope what gives you patience now?

And now this.
This dark, cramped prison. No sunlight, no hope except the promise. No companions. No freedom to do what you want when you want. This pain, this  longing, this impatience, this struggle with your own self to just  stay put until the right time.

This prison is a chrysalis.

This prisoner: a caterpillar.

This impatient one: destined to be a butterfly.

This example: set here for me to learn from.

So I can learn that my waiting is not useless.

I, too, am in a cocoon of becoming. My present is not my future any more than a chrysalis is a butterfly. But the chrysalis is vital in the making of a butterfly. Like the little caterpillar, if I break out of my confinement too soon, all will be lost.  Like the caterpillar I will, in the end, realize just how worth it the waiting is.

In light of all this, there is courage to wait it out a little longer. There is the realization that this chrysalis time is not my prison, it is my launching pad. And this pain that transforms me is my best friend.

Soon everything will be different. I will be who I was proclaimed to be from the beginning of time.

Soon, like my friend the caterpillar, I will be able to soar