There is truly not another book on this planet that is as good a read as God’s Word! What I want to share is much longer than the typical one or two verses that I normally focus on. When I began reading it and then trying to think of what verses to leave out and what not to….absolutely nothing worked. Sometimes you can do that with the Bible and not lose anything, but with this passage, it is all so intertwined and crucial to each other that it had to be all or none. And my heart felt that He wanted it to be all.
Out of “The Message” Romans 8:18 – 31& 38, 39 (underlining and bold is mine for emphasis): “That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens. All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We are also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun. So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us?
I’m absolutely convinced that nothing-nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable-absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.”
These verses are so complete that it is hard for this imperfect human to add much to it aside from my underlining and bold print. Just a few things that ministered to me: I think if I did keep better focus on the coming good times instead of the present hard times, the waiting would not seem like such a burden. And the comparing of my waiting to a pregnancy……that is pure gold and worth really embracing in my heart!
I also love the reassurance that when I don’t have the words to express my heart, when my pain is so overwhelming that all I can do is groan, turn to Him and bury my head in His chest….He KNOWS precisely what I want to say, He KNOWS exactly how I feel. How comforting to my soul! And, after having all that He has done for me so clearly drawn out in the latter verses, how could I EVER truly doubt what I mean to Him? I know that in my case, I forget. I forget the beautiful absolute truths that these verses state. So, I need to keep reminders around me…. I need to be in His Word that reveals His love and devotion in so many different ways…and I need to keep fellowship with others that will remind me in my times of forgetfulness.
In conclusion, how beautiful a picture straight from the heart of our Father…the embrace that Jesus holds us in…..and His embrace is warmer, safer, stronger and more loving than the best embrace we have ever experienced in our lives. THAT is our Lord and our God!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment