O Israel, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. The Lord has remembered us. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless those who fear the Lord, both the small and the great. (Verses 9-13)
"I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the Lord. "For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more."
Jeremiah 31
When Heather, our first child, was moving around my womb promising to arrive soon, I had a pervasive worry. What if I dropped her? What if this newborn, who trusts me for her care, falls on her head because my arms weren't all they promised to be? While she was cooing in the hospital room and I was being sutured from the C-section that made her presence real, all I could think of was how precious the sight of her was. My first indication of my human frailty didn't crash upon me until a week after I took my sweet baby home. I noticed her fingernails were too long. Because her hands were always messing with her face, I knew it was time. My first tool related endeavor to care for an infant. The first couple of fingernails flew off with ease. Calmed me into trying for the others. Somewhere in the ten digit process, though, the clippers nipped Heather's brand new skin. A first drop of blood. The wounding committed by her very own mother. I cried and cried. My perfect child now scarred. I knew it. I wasn't going to be a great mom. To be fair, I never dropped her or her two siblings. But the point was, could they trust me to get them to adulthood without my major mistakes scarring them for life? I hope they have. Most of my mistakes had nothing to do with wounding them physically, but I know I haven't been nearly perfect with other decisions in my life. May God have mercy there.
Like newborns, though, we trust our God. Rely on, put our faith in, Him. All day long, from the moment we awaken, we put faith in other stuff. The lights to come on, the car to run, the chairs we sit in to hold us up. We rely on our computers to store what we input, our grocery stores to have food, our paycheck to come on time. We go about life relying on some really pretty flimsy circumstances and products. Faith isn't as esoteric as it seems. And life more fragile than we admit.
So should we be afraid in the arms of God? There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4. It's been one of three requests I pray for daily: Please help me to love You without fear. And not just fear of punishment, but fear that He might not be doing what is best for me. Truly understanding that He's not going to prick even my little finger out of malice or neglect, but that as my Father, God loved me before I even knew Him. Created me in love for good works which He prepared for me ahead of time. He's on my side, working things out in me. Goading me to know Him better. Not waiting to smash my butt when I get the least bit out of line. Disciplining me when I stretch my own will too far and head toward my own destruction. Standing between me and the foolish prayers I've prayed when I become angry with Him for not answering them. Stomping my feet and throwing a wall-eyed fit because I don't get my way. God, the Father, wouldn't love me if He let me get away with that.
There have been times in my life when I know God has stood between me and what I thought I wanted. Blocked my path and made me furious. He was always waiting for the right circumstance at the right time. I just wanted what I wanted. The one time I persevered in my own pursuit regardless of my Father's many warnings, I found myself in a pit so deep I couldn't do anything but quietly whine His name. A shield and rescuer He is! If we trust Him to have our best interest at heart. And it doesn't matter if you're three or ninety, our Father is faithful to take us where we are and bless us.
The Berachot used by the Jewish faith for blessings contains hundreds of them. Talmud Berachot 35A says that if we enjoy something without saying a blessing over it, it's like we stole it. The tradition Jesus knew was that the Jews were to bless the Lord for all the details of life. Food, water, health, family...barukh, the Hebrew word for blessing, is close to the word Hebrew word for knee (berekh). When Jesus broke the bread and blessed it, He was following the custom of being thankful and acknowledging this good thing came from God. Humbling ourselves and being blessed are linked not only in our acknowledgement of God's hand in our lives, but also of our lives in His hands. When the God of the universe and all that is deigns to speak blessing over us, He stoops down. To make us great. To pour over us the love and power of heaven...because He chose to love us first. To create an eternal pathway to His home so we could know and love our Father for an eternity. That is how God blesses us, here and now, there and then. Why would anyone want to miss out on that just to do whatever they feel like doing on Earth?
And better yet, the blessings of God are attainable. When we begin to understand that we don't have to fear God as in "be afraid of Him," but we can revere His greatness, acknowledge His rightful place of power and majesty and step close to His mouth to hear His blessings over us, we are freed to enjoy life to the fullest. Even a child can understand God loves her. Can nestle close when she's afraid. We don't gain them by being a goodie-two-shoes. We gain them by loving God. He's crazy about us. Like I am about my kids. I love them enough to rein them in and to also give them some space to learn. To shield them and help them when necessary. How much more our great God Who has written His laws upon our hearts, great and small, through the death and resurrection of His Son and the indwelling Holy Spirit! He wills to bless us! I'll take that!
"I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the Lord. "For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more."
Jeremiah 31
When Heather, our first child, was moving around my womb promising to arrive soon, I had a pervasive worry. What if I dropped her? What if this newborn, who trusts me for her care, falls on her head because my arms weren't all they promised to be? While she was cooing in the hospital room and I was being sutured from the C-section that made her presence real, all I could think of was how precious the sight of her was. My first indication of my human frailty didn't crash upon me until a week after I took my sweet baby home. I noticed her fingernails were too long. Because her hands were always messing with her face, I knew it was time. My first tool related endeavor to care for an infant. The first couple of fingernails flew off with ease. Calmed me into trying for the others. Somewhere in the ten digit process, though, the clippers nipped Heather's brand new skin. A first drop of blood. The wounding committed by her very own mother. I cried and cried. My perfect child now scarred. I knew it. I wasn't going to be a great mom. To be fair, I never dropped her or her two siblings. But the point was, could they trust me to get them to adulthood without my major mistakes scarring them for life? I hope they have. Most of my mistakes had nothing to do with wounding them physically, but I know I haven't been nearly perfect with other decisions in my life. May God have mercy there.
Like newborns, though, we trust our God. Rely on, put our faith in, Him. All day long, from the moment we awaken, we put faith in other stuff. The lights to come on, the car to run, the chairs we sit in to hold us up. We rely on our computers to store what we input, our grocery stores to have food, our paycheck to come on time. We go about life relying on some really pretty flimsy circumstances and products. Faith isn't as esoteric as it seems. And life more fragile than we admit.
So should we be afraid in the arms of God? There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4. It's been one of three requests I pray for daily: Please help me to love You without fear. And not just fear of punishment, but fear that He might not be doing what is best for me. Truly understanding that He's not going to prick even my little finger out of malice or neglect, but that as my Father, God loved me before I even knew Him. Created me in love for good works which He prepared for me ahead of time. He's on my side, working things out in me. Goading me to know Him better. Not waiting to smash my butt when I get the least bit out of line. Disciplining me when I stretch my own will too far and head toward my own destruction. Standing between me and the foolish prayers I've prayed when I become angry with Him for not answering them. Stomping my feet and throwing a wall-eyed fit because I don't get my way. God, the Father, wouldn't love me if He let me get away with that.
There have been times in my life when I know God has stood between me and what I thought I wanted. Blocked my path and made me furious. He was always waiting for the right circumstance at the right time. I just wanted what I wanted. The one time I persevered in my own pursuit regardless of my Father's many warnings, I found myself in a pit so deep I couldn't do anything but quietly whine His name. A shield and rescuer He is! If we trust Him to have our best interest at heart. And it doesn't matter if you're three or ninety, our Father is faithful to take us where we are and bless us.
The Berachot used by the Jewish faith for blessings contains hundreds of them. Talmud Berachot 35A says that if we enjoy something without saying a blessing over it, it's like we stole it. The tradition Jesus knew was that the Jews were to bless the Lord for all the details of life. Food, water, health, family...barukh, the Hebrew word for blessing, is close to the word Hebrew word for knee (berekh). When Jesus broke the bread and blessed it, He was following the custom of being thankful and acknowledging this good thing came from God. Humbling ourselves and being blessed are linked not only in our acknowledgement of God's hand in our lives, but also of our lives in His hands. When the God of the universe and all that is deigns to speak blessing over us, He stoops down. To make us great. To pour over us the love and power of heaven...because He chose to love us first. To create an eternal pathway to His home so we could know and love our Father for an eternity. That is how God blesses us, here and now, there and then. Why would anyone want to miss out on that just to do whatever they feel like doing on Earth?
And better yet, the blessings of God are attainable. When we begin to understand that we don't have to fear God as in "be afraid of Him," but we can revere His greatness, acknowledge His rightful place of power and majesty and step close to His mouth to hear His blessings over us, we are freed to enjoy life to the fullest. Even a child can understand God loves her. Can nestle close when she's afraid. We don't gain them by being a goodie-two-shoes. We gain them by loving God. He's crazy about us. Like I am about my kids. I love them enough to rein them in and to also give them some space to learn. To shield them and help them when necessary. How much more our great God Who has written His laws upon our hearts, great and small, through the death and resurrection of His Son and the indwelling Holy Spirit! He wills to bless us! I'll take that!
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