Sunday, February 25, 2007 - 8:27 PM
I awoke this morning feeling myself awed with the wonder at the 'with-ness' of God and at all of the comfort that we can have in knowing that "He is, He was, and He is to come".
He's in our today. He was in our yesterday. He'll be in our tomorrow.
He watches, He sees, He's always there. He always cares.
Matthew 1:23 foretells of Jesus birth and says of Him, "The virgin with be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel - which means "God with us." Whoa - at the wonder! Can you truly imagine Him here? Both then. And now. And later. And because He is with us we can bask in His presence and have great hope in Him for whatever we need to have a hope for.
Psalm 130:7 says:
"...put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is
unfailing love
unfailing love
and with Him is
full redemption."
The King James words it this way:
"Let Israel hope in the Lord:
for with the LORD
[there is] mercy
and with Him
[is] plenteous redemption."
We're told to "put" our hope IN the Lord. We can know where and with Whom to put such hope. The word "hope" here (that we're to put in Him) means (Please note: I've typed the definitions that I've looked up along the way in blue):
- Hope in Him.
- Tarry in Him.
- Wait in Him.
- Remain in Him.
- Be stayed in Him.
- Trust in Him.
- Expect in Him.
For whatever reason that particular defining "stayed in Him" definition so works for me. Just staying there IN Him, staying in your Hope, staying in His word, stayed in your trust, being stayed in His promise.... just continuing in that place or in that condition, remaining, standing firm, standing fixed, standing steadfast and holding on UNTIL your anxious expectation in Him takes place. Unmoved and unmoveable no matter the force of the rains and the winds from the storms that blow against it and you. Trusting still even through the attacks that are targeted toward you. Standing firm and steadfastedly fixed even while the taunts that tempt to disengage you from your hope's hold try to tear you from it. Even when the darkness around you clouds you from seeing the Light. Stayed! Stayed there still... IN Him - where you've put your hope!
But why (when you can't see Him)... do you keep your hope there?
Why remain... when the forces against you are so strong that they tire your hold?
Why keep on waiting and tarrying then in the hope that at the moment can't be seen and seems no where to be found?
Why still be stayed... when the hope don't come?
Why... when it takes so long?
Why?
I'll tell you why. Because of the promise that follows the command to put your hope there. We're told:
"...put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is
unfailing love
unfailing love
and with Him is
full redemption."
"Let Israel hope in the Lord:
for with the LORD
[there is] mercy
and with Him
[is] plenteous redemption."
Why?
- Because WITH the Lord IS a love that can't fail!
- Because WITH the Lord is mercy... goodness... kindness... faithfulness... and favor!
- And because WITH Him is plenteous and full redemption! Full liberation! Ransomed fully!
We can hope (when hope looks hopeless) in the One that is "with" us, even when our eyes can't see in the moment, because God's love canNOT fail. Because Love is Patient. It's Kind. It's not rude. Nor self-seeking. It keeps no record of wrongs (as "far as the east is to the west"!). Love doesn't delight in evil. But Love rejoices in truth. It ALWAYS Protects (I like that one!). Always trusts. Always hopes. Always perseveres (I find that encouraging!). It never never never ever fails! It never falls, never loses, is never found powerless, it is never without effect. At our cries Mercy always comes running, because it is its nature, it can't refuse to act upon the cry that calls it.
And so.
We continue to hope, because the Lord is with us. Because we can know that He has a zealous love toward us, that He's kind, He's benevolent (He's inclined toward performing kind and charitable acts for us), He's full of mercy toward us, and He pities to those in misfortune, He's graceful and favorable towards men. We can be stayed in our hope, because with Him is FULL redemption! Total liberation! For the ransom's been paid! Dare we think that His blood was shed in vain and hasn't the power to fully redeem? It redeems at our repenting, and not because we were innocent or because of our works. It redeems, because Jesus CAME to save! Immanuel - God with us!
But what really is this word called redemption?
Redemption is recovering something (us!). It's a deliverance upon payment of some sort of ransom (Him!). It's a rescue of some kind. A saving from something. Redeeming is recovering ownership of something by paying a price. It's setting something free. Saving someone from a state of sinfulness and its consequences. Restoring the worth and honor and reputation of someone. Reclaiming, recovering, repurchasing, reforming, repairing, restoring, taking or getting or winning back, salvaging, buying back. He can buy back our life, our sin, our health, our heart, our hurt, our most horrid circumstances, the most awful things that we've done or what has been done to us. He can free us from what distresses and oppresses and holds or harms us. He can help us to overcome whatever is detrimental to us and brings us sorrow or sickness or death. He's able to free us from the consequences of our sin, and to change us for the better.... to breathe to us life from our death, healing from our hurt, joy from our sorrow, light from our dark.
Can we not just see a glimmer of God every once in a while and maybe just get a glimpse of Him saying, "Rest my sweet child. Trust me, dear child. I am here. I am with you always."
Remember Joseph and how we're told time after time throughout the Scripture in all of the different places that we find him in that "God was with him" there? In the pit, in the palace, in the prison and then...........can we not hear God say to us too, "I am with you. I am here. I'm with you in this. I'm working for you here. I'm for you and never against. Hang on, hold on, let go and let Me... I'm here to get you out of this mess!"
Then, if we should take to that scripture (Psalm 130) that we started out reading and if our curiosity was piqued to read more from that chapter we would see it to say this:
"Out of the depths
I cry to You, O LORD;
O Lord, hear my voice.
Let Your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
If You, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with You
there is forgiveness;
therefore You are feared.
I wait for the LORD,
my soul waits,
and in His Word I put my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
O Israel, put Your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD
is unfailing love
and with Him
is full redemption.
HE HIMSELF
will redeem Israel
from all their sins."
Did you think to note as you read this text from whence the cry for help was bellowed from? It was yelled from out of the "depths". Have you ever been in such deep? Have you ever felt yourself drowning from all of the circumstances around you? Stuck in the mires of some sin? Tranced by the trap of deceit? Found yourself fastened to a false fascination? Wound in a web that you can't wiggle yourself out of? Held captive and entangled by some stronghold's collar? Cuffed and shackled under the weight of some burden? Sinking under some sickness? Toppling from some terror? Submerging in some sorrow? Horrifying in your (or someone else's) hurt? Pitted in some pity? Bent and bowing to some bitterness? Might you find yourself bellowing now from beneath the depths of some deep that tempt to engulf you? Are you calling out? crying out? calling for?... the One Who knit you in your mother's womb, and not only knows your name, but knows the plans He has for you? Do you ask Him: Where is that "hope" and your "future" (Jer 29:11)... those plans that are to "prosper" you and not to "harm" you? That is all right if you're crying... for if you're crying then you're on your way, it's as it should be! He longs for you to. For we have a God, a Father, a Shepherd and Savior that hears and heeds to the cries of His child and in answer to the bleating of His sheep... for He is with them (with His "unfailing love," His "mercy," and His "full redemption").
In this psalm the psalmist cries: "Let Your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy"! Be attentive meaning to:
Pay attention to my cry for mercy!
Listen to it!
Hear it!
Consent!
Incline Your ears!
Hearken!
Understand my need!
Heed!
Agree!
Yield to my request!
Grant to my plea!
Attend to my voice, my sound,
my noise, my crying, the thundering
weep of my prayer, my supplication
crying for grace, imploring for favor,
and pleading for God's plentious pity!
The psalmists tells us that the reason for his confidence in the Lord at his cry is because (he says) God keeps no "record of sins," because "NO MAN could stand if He did" (after all: "Love keeps no record of wrong").
The King James says that "[there is] forgiveness
Can you not just imagine God carrying around a bag of forgiveness just waiting to give it out at will at our asking in the moment of our need or our want of it? :) Whoa (again), at the benefits of being "with" the Lord,... of being with the "God [that is] with us!" And so the psalmist continues to tell what he does while he stays fixed in his hope: with Thee!"
"I wait
for the Lord,
my soul
waits,
and IN His Word I put my hope.
My soul waits
for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen waitfor the morning.
O Israel, put Your hope IN the LORD,
for with the LORD
is unfailing love
and with Him
is full redemption.
He Himself WILL redeem Israel from all their sins."
And ours too! "He Himself WILL redeem" - will ransom, will rescue, will deliver, will let go, and set free and save! Need our hearts have reason to fear in our with-ness with our Lord and our Savior?
How Great is our God!... in Whom we trust!... and in Whom our hope is stayed..... while we WAIT for Him! Ah, what joy, what grace... for my Redeemer that died to save now ever lives to fully redeem!
For "God has said,
"Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you."
Hebrews 13:5
I feel so favored and graced in His redemption. May you too feel as favored and graced as I do in Whom I am standing with and fixing my faith! Got need for a hope? Or already confidently holding onto such hope to the One in your need? My hope rests in Him.... because He is ever with me and He cares for me with His UNfailing love and lives to fully redeem and restore. A perfect picture of His truth that He's shared, "we know that in ALL things God WORKS FOR the good of those who love Him..."
Hmmm.... I'm purely and totally awed and whoa-ed with the wonders and the with-ness of Him!
No comments:
Post a Comment