A Beautiful Story
January 27, 2009
I was speaking with a good friend tonight, Shanna, and she said something that moved me to tears. Her father is a missionary and former pastor who has proven himself to be the most legitimate/steadfast believer she has ever known. When she speaks of him it’s like listening to Mary the sister of Lazarus speaking of Jesus. That alone breaks my heart, as I never had such a man of God to look to in my family. And yet Shanna expressed the pain of having steered away from his counsel at several turns of her life – especially when she felt he would advise against what she wanted. If you grew up in the 2oth century western civilization, you can probably relate. But this week, Shanna found herself eager to share something with him concerning an area of life in which she had not sought his wise counsel for many years… and her cup overflowed. As she excitedly opened up and began retelling portions of their dialogue over the past month, her joy was clear and pure and childlike and effortless and bold and insightful and piercingly and beautifully repentant… and for that, so full of God in His most real and present sense… a little girl gushing over her Daddy, like the prodigal, humbled and grateful and so glad to be in the fullness of his grace again… just like it always was…. like it was always meant to be. As a father and a friend, I was crushed, and encouraged, and inspired and overjoyed with her. Shanna shined like light and wet my thirst like salt, and I heard the Lord in her voice when she said, “I know that I must be doing something right… it must be good… when my Dad is excited to call me every day, and I’m excited to hear what he says.” For all who have eyes to see and ears to hear, the message is so very clear. God answers, and comes to us swiftly… if only we would honor Him with the joy and obedience of a little child, poor in spirit, meek and thirsting, pure at heart. “Only God is good.” –Jesus
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I’ve been reflecting on your January 27 post and thinking about how ironic it is that when we need the Father—or godly counsel—the most, it often seems the most difficult to seek it. Yet, once we finally exhaust all other options, we find the Lord waiting for us to welcome us back with open arms.
It has been a really difficult couple of weeks at work (not to mention the typical parenting challenges), and I’m reminded that it’s the times that I let my focus get misdirected that I end up feeling so overwhelmed.
The Lord woke me up early this morning to spend some time together. As usual when He does this, I was tired, and not really in the mood to get up that early; but when I complied, He rewarded me so richly. As I read back through my journals with Him from the past year, over and over again, I had written, “Lord, what would you have me know today?” And time and again, He had said, “I love you with an everlasting love. You are mine, and I am yours.”
“I am yours…” How precious is that: that I would not only belong to Him but Him to me.
Reading back through the journal, I found one morning when I changed up the question a bit. I had been preparing for a summer mission trip to Russia and was feeling particularly inadequate for the task. Coming to the end of meditating on Psalm 121 (“The LORD will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and evermore.”) I asked Him, “Lord, am I yours?”
He said the most beautiful thing: “You are mine, and I am yours forever. There is no greater love story than this. There is no fiercer battle cry. I am yours, and you are mine forever. I will not fail you. Only I am the perfect lover—one who loves unselfishly. Revel in my love. I know you are distracted. It’s okay. I don’t judge you for that. But give those cares to me. You’re carrying burdens you don’t need to carry. Let me take them for you, and you keep walking. Keep moving forward, but rest in me.”
How extravagant a love is that? How noble and pure. And yet, with all of that, how can I get caught up in the little daily things that mean nothing and forget the depth of the One who first loved me?
That was a fresh word for me again this morning and hopefully a good word for anyone who might read this. And it led me to a place of extraordinary thankfulness and refreshing. My response back to the Lord was one of deep gratitude. Consider this: When we are true believers—when we are His—He knows everything about us—our strengths, weaknesses, sins, strong points, destinies, and distractions, and He still loves us—EXTRAVAGANTLY and without limit. Unlike human love, His love is not dependent on our performance or perfection, or anything we could do.
His Word continually reaffirms His love for us: He IS love. He is light and in Him is no darkness. His light drives out darkness, and if He is for us, who can be against us? Nothing can separate us from the love of God. We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. He has engraved us in the palms of His hands and nothing can tear us from Him, because He holds us fast. When we are weak, He is strong. He who began a good work in us is able to finish it and faithful to bring it to completion.
Oh, what a God, what a Savior! What extravagant love! Help us to maintain such a focus on You and not the cares of this world.