Lord my God, I only wish that my heart and mind could fully describe your greatness, the pure beauty of your character, and your awesome power - the complete essence of the precious, loving, wonder and righteous, terrifying, power that you are. My attempts to capture you fully though, even in my thoughts, let alone my words, are merely an attempt at what is humanly impossible.
"A voice says, “Cry out!” And I asked, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall when the breath of the LORD blows on them; indeed, the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” Isaiah 40:6-8 (NKJV)
In the midst of all of the troubles and distractions facing humanity - all of the chaos, distress, worries, desires, and needs, above all of the noise of it, there's a voice calling out constant and unwavering. It's the voice of the God who created mankind - a mankind who in turn created his own noise and calamity. The farther that mankind gets from his Creator, the more distant the voice, until it becomes nothing more than a far off distant cry and then disappears altogether in the din that man created around himself. Mankind then careens obliviously to his own destruction.
I am of course a little more deeply immersed this week in thinking about the events that we as Christ's followers focus on and celebrate as the greatest, completely unmerited, gift that we have received through Christ's sacrificial death and resurrection and everything that surrounds those events. At the core of it all, I recognize the heart cry of our God offering redemption, at a great cost to Himself, to any of mankind who will turn to face Him repentantly, surrendering to accept Jesus Christ as his Savior, in obedience.
“Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm." Joel 2:12-13 (NKJV)
He's been calling after mankind throughout the ages of mankind's existence. I think of that calling as revealing the essence of who our God is. It permeates the entirety of the record of His word and reveals the true heart of Love as He calls out to mankind to return to Him who created man. We can make no mistake in assuming that God is only love because we know that He is constantly so much more. His appeal, as we witness, is the same even while so many ignore Him as The Sovereign, Omnipotent God, and dare to mistreat Him. And that appeal is also constantly revealing the beauty of His righteous character.
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; Seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isaiah 1:16-18 (NKJV)
Throughout mankind's history, the prophets that The Lord sent to carry the messages of His heart to mankind were so often mistreated and slaughtered in a variety of ways, but still God continued His appeal. This went on until He sent finally sent His very own Son to carry His message and appeal. We can't miss the fact that the sending and arriving of His Son was in fact a message in itself that ended, not on the cross, but having suffered that amongst so many other things, the resurrection of Jesus - The Resurrected Christ. And even while He was being so horribly mistreated and put to death, God's character was still shining through...
"When they came to the place called The Skull, they crucified Him there, along with the criminals, one on His right and the other on His left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up His garments by casting lots."
Luke 23:33-34
If I ever consider my own piousness as anything, I pray Lord let it be cast far from me so that I am found only desperately clinging to that cross of Christ, and Him resurrected as my Savior. Your grace, offered to mankind is without equal and without any merit on the part of mankind. It should provoke violent gratitude in the hearts of as many as receive it for as long as this greatest gift continues to bless us throughout eternity. No other gift could ever equal what you have done out of Love.
"Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open up that salvation may sprout and righteousness spring up with it; I, the LORD, have created it." Isaiah 45:8 (NKJV)
Comments
Post a Comment