God might have given us great wisdom in the Word, but we
remain needy and dependent sheep, desperately panting to sense the rod and
staff of our Savior.
I hope He has taught you that this sense of intimacy doesn’t come from clearing your mind, by visualizing or imagining God (which is idolatry), or by accomplishing a great spiritual feat. Instead, it comes through meditating on His Word, the power of God (Romans 1:16) and the revealer of our inner self (Hebrews 4:12; James 1:22-25).
Today, I was feeling overwhelmed by life, and this resulted in one of my less-than-welcome meltdowns. I prayed, turned to the Word, and read a verse that seized hold of me:
I hope He has taught you that this sense of intimacy doesn’t come from clearing your mind, by visualizing or imagining God (which is idolatry), or by accomplishing a great spiritual feat. Instead, it comes through meditating on His Word, the power of God (Romans 1:16) and the revealer of our inner self (Hebrews 4:12; James 1:22-25).
Today, I was feeling overwhelmed by life, and this resulted in one of my less-than-welcome meltdowns. I prayed, turned to the Word, and read a verse that seized hold of me:
·
For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of
Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for
you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give
men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. (Isaiah 43:3-4)
With the simple statement, “and I love you,” the Lord made
His love so real that my fears fled for cover. What was it about this statement
of God’s love? Well, it does seem to be a more direct statement of love than any
of His other statements (John 3:16; Revelation 3:9). However, it hit me with an
unforgettable force (at least, I mustn’t forget it).
And we shouldn’t be surprised by this. The Word is the sword
of the Spirit:
·
and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword
of the Spirit, which is the word of God, (Ephesians 6:17)
This suggests that the Word is used supernaturally by the
Spirit to accomplish His purposes. The Word is powerful. It will either draw us
to God or cause us to flee away:
·
“If anyone hears my words and does not keep
them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the
world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the
word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.” (John 12:47-48)
The Word either edifies or the terror of its Light will cause us to flee into the darkness.
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