Relationship
There is so much I want to know about God. What He is thinking, what He looks like. What standing in His physical presence feels like. He has been talking to me about His plans for me, and how He has built me for the future He always envisioned for me. A perfect plan and purpose to satisfy my heart. He is SO about and "for" me. When I settle my heart and listen to Him, He is so kind, always reassuring me, always inviting me closer.
As I have slowly watched my heart grow closer to Him, I have gotten to feel some of His presence in tangible ways. The vibrancy of my heart changes. Sometimes I can, in relatively small ways for such a powerful God, feel His near presence. Sometimes I "tingle" a little when He is emphasizing something to me, or sometimes I might just start crying when He says something surprising about how He feels about me.
He is so focused on me. Even when I neglect to press in to Him, when I completely forget He is there for a little while, He is always paying attention, waiting for me to restart the conversation. He doesn't just feel this way about me. He feels this way about everyone who has said "yes" to a relationship with Him.
Because He is so "Tom" focused, it is easy for me to make our relationship, our conversation, mostly about Tom. We both like Tom quite a bit. But there is something lacking in a relationship all about one person. God is so powerful, without lack, and so full of knowledge, it is easy for me to just assume He knows how I feel about Him. But the Bible says God made man to be with Him. Sin has temporarily made it very dangerous for me to stand before Him in my physical body (God's holiness is so bright it would kill my "fallen" body), but His desire hasn't changed. God desires that I would look upon Him and see His beauty, that I would talk to Him and respond with love. He wants to satisfy my desire to be loved, and He wants me to satisfy His desire to be loved. Every relationship that is healthy is like this. He goes out of His way, even to the point of sacrificing Himself on a cross to let me feel, and see, and hear who I am, how special I am to Him. He let's me know who He is to me. But I rarely think of who I can be to Him. What can I bring Him? How one-sided our relationship can easily become. I say "Lord, I want more," and He always gives more. He says "Tom, what do you want?"...
I want to live more and more aware of what moves His heart. I want to be a person more concerned about who I can be to Him, than who He is to me. He is trustworthy to be everything to me. He has proven it time and time again. I want to shift my focus to plumbing more of the depths of His heart to listen for what I can bring Him...my affection with words to Him, my obedience as a fragrant offering, my fascination in Him as I listen to Him reveal His stories from His perspective. I want to move more from pursuing Him from my own self-interest and go deeper. He is so strong, and I am so weak, but i still have a storehouse of words, and time, and attention that could be His.
This morning Song of Solomon is wrecking my mind in a good way. It is flowery, but if I can get past that, it is so revealing (I put some of my thoughts in parenthesis):
This how Jesus feels waiting for us to be with Him again:
Song of Songs 4: 6 Until the day breaks And the shadows flee away, I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh And to the hill of frankincense.
This is how Jesus feels about you (and me). He wants to take us to the heights with Him, and show us things the way He sees them:
7 You are all fair, my love, And there is no spot in you. (Because of His payment for sin, He sees us justified and qualified)8 Come with me (he wants us going places with Him in life, He has a plan that He wants to work out with us in partnership) from Lebanon, my spouse, With me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amana, From the top of Senir and Hermon, From the lions’ dens, From the mountains of the leopards (we will see exciting heights going with Him).
This is why He is so interested in spending time with us:
9 You have ravished my heart, My sister, my spouse (sharing in all He has, don't let the gender language mix you up); You have ravished my heart With one look of your eyes (our attention moves Him), With one link of your necklace.(Even a small glimpse of who I am reminds Him of how much He loves the way I am) 10 How fair is your love, My sister, my spouse! How much better than wine is your love, And the scent of your perfumes Than all spices! 11 Your lips, O my spouse, Drip as the honeycomb (He loves our words to Him); Honey and milk are under your tongue; And the fragrance of your garments Is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
12 A garden enclosed (we have a "gate" to our heart. It is up to us to open it. He won't force His way in) Is my sister, my spouse, A spring shut up, A fountain sealed. (We are full of refreshing responses that don't naturally flow. We can "release" the spring, if we want to our responses to Him refresh Him. He desires it) 13 Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates With pleasant fruits, Fragrant henna with spikenard, 14 Spikenard and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, With all trees of frankincense, Myrrh and aloes, With all the chief spices— 15 A fountain of gardens, A well of living waters, And streams from Lebanon.
The Shulamite (this is the response He desires. The "Shulamite" is His beloved companion/bride)
16 Awake, O north wind, And come, O south! (Let the winds of life) Blow upon my garden (my heart is the garden. Allow whatever you circumstances you want to come into my life to help me give my heart to you, Jesus), That its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden And eat its pleasant fruits (I open my heart to you, come as close as you want and take what you want. Teach me how to give you more).
If given the invitation, He will come in more:
SOS 5:1 I have come to my garden, my sister, my spouse; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk.
He wants us to treat each other the same way. Celebrating what each of us has to offer, rather than holding back in disunity:
(To His friends)
Eat, O friends! Drink, yes, drink deeply, O beloved ones!
John 17:20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
This is the God who loves us!
As I have slowly watched my heart grow closer to Him, I have gotten to feel some of His presence in tangible ways. The vibrancy of my heart changes. Sometimes I can, in relatively small ways for such a powerful God, feel His near presence. Sometimes I "tingle" a little when He is emphasizing something to me, or sometimes I might just start crying when He says something surprising about how He feels about me.
He is so focused on me. Even when I neglect to press in to Him, when I completely forget He is there for a little while, He is always paying attention, waiting for me to restart the conversation. He doesn't just feel this way about me. He feels this way about everyone who has said "yes" to a relationship with Him.
Because He is so "Tom" focused, it is easy for me to make our relationship, our conversation, mostly about Tom. We both like Tom quite a bit. But there is something lacking in a relationship all about one person. God is so powerful, without lack, and so full of knowledge, it is easy for me to just assume He knows how I feel about Him. But the Bible says God made man to be with Him. Sin has temporarily made it very dangerous for me to stand before Him in my physical body (God's holiness is so bright it would kill my "fallen" body), but His desire hasn't changed. God desires that I would look upon Him and see His beauty, that I would talk to Him and respond with love. He wants to satisfy my desire to be loved, and He wants me to satisfy His desire to be loved. Every relationship that is healthy is like this. He goes out of His way, even to the point of sacrificing Himself on a cross to let me feel, and see, and hear who I am, how special I am to Him. He let's me know who He is to me. But I rarely think of who I can be to Him. What can I bring Him? How one-sided our relationship can easily become. I say "Lord, I want more," and He always gives more. He says "Tom, what do you want?"...
I want to live more and more aware of what moves His heart. I want to be a person more concerned about who I can be to Him, than who He is to me. He is trustworthy to be everything to me. He has proven it time and time again. I want to shift my focus to plumbing more of the depths of His heart to listen for what I can bring Him...my affection with words to Him, my obedience as a fragrant offering, my fascination in Him as I listen to Him reveal His stories from His perspective. I want to move more from pursuing Him from my own self-interest and go deeper. He is so strong, and I am so weak, but i still have a storehouse of words, and time, and attention that could be His.
This morning Song of Solomon is wrecking my mind in a good way. It is flowery, but if I can get past that, it is so revealing (I put some of my thoughts in parenthesis):
This how Jesus feels waiting for us to be with Him again:
Song of Songs 4: 6 Until the day breaks And the shadows flee away, I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh And to the hill of frankincense.
This is how Jesus feels about you (and me). He wants to take us to the heights with Him, and show us things the way He sees them:
7 You are all fair, my love, And there is no spot in you. (Because of His payment for sin, He sees us justified and qualified)8 Come with me (he wants us going places with Him in life, He has a plan that He wants to work out with us in partnership) from Lebanon, my spouse, With me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amana, From the top of Senir and Hermon, From the lions’ dens, From the mountains of the leopards (we will see exciting heights going with Him).
This is why He is so interested in spending time with us:
9 You have ravished my heart, My sister, my spouse (sharing in all He has, don't let the gender language mix you up); You have ravished my heart With one look of your eyes (our attention moves Him), With one link of your necklace.(Even a small glimpse of who I am reminds Him of how much He loves the way I am) 10 How fair is your love, My sister, my spouse! How much better than wine is your love, And the scent of your perfumes Than all spices! 11 Your lips, O my spouse, Drip as the honeycomb (He loves our words to Him); Honey and milk are under your tongue; And the fragrance of your garments Is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
12 A garden enclosed (we have a "gate" to our heart. It is up to us to open it. He won't force His way in) Is my sister, my spouse, A spring shut up, A fountain sealed. (We are full of refreshing responses that don't naturally flow. We can "release" the spring, if we want to our responses to Him refresh Him. He desires it) 13 Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates With pleasant fruits, Fragrant henna with spikenard, 14 Spikenard and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, With all trees of frankincense, Myrrh and aloes, With all the chief spices— 15 A fountain of gardens, A well of living waters, And streams from Lebanon.
The Shulamite (this is the response He desires. The "Shulamite" is His beloved companion/bride)
16 Awake, O north wind, And come, O south! (Let the winds of life) Blow upon my garden (my heart is the garden. Allow whatever you circumstances you want to come into my life to help me give my heart to you, Jesus), That its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden And eat its pleasant fruits (I open my heart to you, come as close as you want and take what you want. Teach me how to give you more).
If given the invitation, He will come in more:
SOS 5:1 I have come to my garden, my sister, my spouse; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk.
He wants us to treat each other the same way. Celebrating what each of us has to offer, rather than holding back in disunity:
(To His friends)
Eat, O friends! Drink, yes, drink deeply, O beloved ones!
John 17:20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
This is the God who loves us!
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