LOVE

From the Country Parson

By

George Herbert

 

 

 

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,

Guilty of dust and sin.

But quick-ey’d Love, observing me grow slack

From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,

If I lack’d anything.

 

A guest, I answer’d, worthy to be here:

Love said, you shall be he.

I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,

I cannot look on thee.

Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,

Who made the eyes but I?

 

Truth Lord, but I have marr’d them: let my shame

Go where it doth deserve.

And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?

My dear, then I will serve.

You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:

So I did sit and eat.

Love and Rest in God

My Dear LORD,

I depend wholly upon thee,

wean me from all other dependences.

Thou art my all, thou dost overrule all and delight in me.

Thou art the foundation of goodness,

how can I distrust thee?

how be anxious about what happens to me?

In the light of thy preciousness

the world and all its enjoyments are infinitely poor:

I value the favour of men no more than pebbles.

Amid the blessings I receive from thee

may I never lose the heart of a stranger.

May I love thee, my benefactor, in all my benefits,

not forgetting that my greatest danger

arises from my advantages.

Produce in me self-despair that will make Jesus precious to me,

delightful in all his offices,

pleasurable in all his ways,

and may I love his commands as well as his promises.

Help me to discern between true and false love,

the one consisting of supreme love to thee, the other not,

the former uniting thy glory and man’s happiness

that they may become one common interest,

the latter disjointing and separating them both,

seeking the latter with neglect of the former.

Teach me that genuine love is different in kind

from that wrought by rational arguments or the motive of self-interest,

that such love is a pleasing passion affording the joy to the mind where it is.

Grant me grace to distinguish between the genuine and the false,

and to rest in thee who art all love.

My Love…

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. Solomon writes in the Songs 4:1 Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful!

 

I want to share this glorious experience of joy, peace, and love that I felt reading John Bunyans Grace Abounding.. reflecting on a sermon these words singing through his head  “behold, thou art fair, my love; behold thou art fair” these two words, “my love” the chief subject matter of the message. .. Christ’s love continues when under temptation and desertion.

 

If it is so that the saved soul is Christ’s love even when under temptation and desertion, then, poor tempted soul, when you are assaulted and afflicted with temptations and the hiding of His face, think on these two words, ‘ my love’, still.

 

Whilst driving home these two words came again, and i said in my heart, What will I get by thinking on these two words?  No soon as the moments passed my heart began to warm “you are My love, you are My love” yet these words grew stronger and stonger and warmer and warmer I began to look up.

 

Yet between hope and fear, I still replied in my heart, “but is it true? Is it true? To which, that sentence fell upon me, “He.. wist not that it was true which was done by the angel” Acts 12:9

 

Then I began to give place to the word, which with power did over and over make this joyful sound within my soul, “You are My love, you are My love, and nothing will seperate you from My love.” And with that my heart was filled full of comfort and hope, and now I could believe that my sins would be forgiven me. Yes, I was now so taken with the love and mercy of God, that I remember I could not tell how to contain myself until I got home.

How Majestic is Your Name!

Psalm 8

I have always been amazed by God’s creation for as long as I can think of I marveled at its beauty. From my youth reflecting on the times mom took us to the main library getting that book on how to build a telescope so that I could get a closer look at the stars.  Now, man has sent a telescope out into space so that we can gaze even deeper into the universe. If you’ve never done it before go to the science centers observatory and take a look.

As I sit and watch the geese, both mother and father nurturing their children again I sit in awe. Wonderfully they protect them. They show them how to swim. One flaps his wings demonstrating to them how to strengthen their wings, and feeding them leading them to various pastures.

Reading this amazing Psalm you can visualize young David still tending to his sheep lying in the pastures with his eyes fixed heavenward, with feelings of wonder and excitement when he looks at His heavens, the work of His fingers, the moon and the stars. Yet, to think that in all that God has done in establishing the foundations of the earth, creating the birds in the sky to the fish in the sea He would be mindful enough to care for man.

Creating man in His image, and likeness that man would have dominion over creation. In this man was separated from the rest of living creation and defined his relationship as above the rest of creation. This authority comes in our unity now given us in Christ Jesus, once lost in Adam.

What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels;  you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. Heb 2;6-9

God’s Majestic Name. The opening words in v.1 set the theme of the psalm, which v.9 then repeats. The majesty of God’s name his revealed character is seen in the dignity He gives to mankind. Esv

D John

All rise “Our LORD and Judge” presides

PSALM 7

Carrie Prejean keeps her crown, a day later Shanna Moakler resigns. She says ” since the press conference yesterday, I had a chance to think about what has taken place, and I feel that at this time it is in the best interest to resign from Miss California USA organization” Why you ask “she doesn’t in a clear conscious believe in what the organization represents” You see, Miss Prejean “My”( emphasis mine) Miss USA announced a campaign opposing gay marriage and Ms Moakler announced she was appearing in a new add supporting gay rights. Criticism comes in all forms and when we least expect it.

Running from his son David comes into Bahurim a Benjaminite town on the north side of the Mount of Olives. He encounters Shimei, the son of Gera, a man of the family of the house of Saul. Now Shimei curses continually David as well as throw stones at him, why because he’s bitter and holding onto a grudge that he can’t let go. But, its what he said in the criticism that perplexes David. ” Get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man! The LORD has avenged on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the LORD has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, your evil is on you, for you are a man of blood.”

There is some truth in what he says in that the kingdom has been given into the hand of Absalom. But temporarily. And the criticism wasn’t what Shimei nor David assumed.  Living a vertical life means putting all of your eggs in the LORDS basket and trusting in His promises and that’s what we find continuously from David here as he opens with “O LORD my God, in you do I take refuge; yet perplexed his mind racing to and fro he has his son chasing him now this man cursing him for something he is unsure of if he committed these atrocities. Yet, he is steadfast in following the LORD his God he submits that if he has wronged anyone he surrenders himself to the judgement of HIM who sustains him.

O LORD my God, if I have done this: if there is iniquity in my hands, if I have repaid evil to him who was at peace with me, or have plundered my enemy without cause, Let the enemy pursue me and overtake me; yes, let him trample my life to the earth, and lay my honor in the dust.

In a speech “Citizenship in a Republic” delivered in Paris 23 Apr 1910 by Theodore Roosevelt he says, ” It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually try to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. “

The LORD judges the peoples; judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me. Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God! My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.

If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts. Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies. He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made. His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends.

As we walk vertically living horizontally we will face the criticism, some just, and some not. Find refuge in Our LORD and God, and to HIM give the thanks due to his righteousness, and sing praises to the name of the LORD,  the MOST HIGH

 

D John

Fallen! I feel I can’t get up

Psalm 6

 Remember that old television commercial for the medilert tag, “I’ve fallen and can’t get up” it’s been the coffee room joke now for many years. What about the time you walked by the mirror and asked that question what has happened and who are you? I can honestly say I have. I can still hear momma saying go get that switch and go to your room. It’s then we cry out please, please I promise I won’t. It’s at that time as we peer at the reflection, thinking about the many tears we’ve cried, sorry for the hypocritical life we’ve lead. We ask our Father crying out please, please “rebuke me not in your anger” I won’t do it again please be gracious to me O Lord for I am languishing. Like David, we find ourselves hard pressed, fallen, and feel we can’t get up it’s then we recognize where we are and ask for forgiveness.

“Turn, O LORD, deliver my life; save me for the sake of you steadfast love. For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?

I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes.

Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping. The LORD has heard my plea; the LORD accepts my prayer.”

Malcom Muggeridge wrote; Contrary to what might be expected, I look back on experiences that at the time seemed especially desolating and painful with particular satisfaction. Indeed, I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have learned in my seventy-five years in this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my existence, has been through affliction and not through happiness. In other words, if it ever were to be possible to eliminate affliction from our earthly existence by means of some drug or other medical mumbo jumbo, as Huxley envisaged in “Brave New World”, the result would not be to make life delectable, but to make it too banal and trivial to be endurable. This, of course, is what the Cross signifies. And it is the Cross, more than anything else, that has called me inexorably to Christ.

“More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5

D John

As I walk before my enemies

As I walk before my enemies

Psalm 5

 

 

We’ve often been told “ do onto others as others would do onto you.” Nowhere is this found in scripture. Luke 6:31 and as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. So it would seem that this is just the oposite of what the world would have us think. Romans 12:16-19 “live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all, if possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, vengence is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

 

We find David in this psalm on his knees looking up, he’s living vertically and walking horizontally. I’m reading Eugene Petersons book “Christ plays in ten thousand places” and he’s talking about Christ and the pattern he sets for His disciples – he says p 234 “ The pattern holds: whatever we do in Jesus’ name, we begin on our knees before our friends and neighbors and conclude looking up to heaven praying to the Father. Washing dirty feet and praying to the Holy Father bookend our lives. We can’t live Jesus’ life, we can’t do Jesus’ work, without doing it within the boundaries that Jesus set.”

 

-         There’s an Irish prayer that goes

        May those that love us, love us

        and those that don’t love us,

       may God turn their hearts;

      and if He doesn’t turn their hearts,

     may He turn their ankles

     so we’ll know them by their limping.

 

We can’t ignore our enemies but be mindful of them, pray for them, continue to live righteously. And allow God to be God.

 

 

D John

 

A Nation in Distress

Psalm 1,2,4

Eph 4:17-32

 

 

A ship sails the seas completing its journey looking for home. Night comes, storms arise and the fog thickens. The captain no longer can see the beacon of the lighthouse. Like this captain we can’t seem to find our way bitterness, anger, lust covetousness and greed have clouded our mind we have hardened our hearts, no longer able to see God. We no longer seek Him. He doesn’t exist anymore.

 

Stuck even trapped in the rut of life completing the mundane, we find our rest in the sanctuary of our own homes. Speaking to our neighbor is a thing of the past. Like God we don’t even know them. Something is lost and forsaken. How can I, how can we find ourselves? How do we find God?

 

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night, yet our nations rage. Our anger and bitterness has turned to wrath for we have sinned.

 

Chosen by God as Christians we have a duty an obligation to our fellow man no longer are we to walk as gentiles, we must put away falsehood, speak truth with our neighbor for we are members one of another. Put on the new self being renewed in the spirit of our minds we have been created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Lets live vertically and walk horizontally.

 

D John

 

Bound to Him – Led by the Holy Spirit

When we think about slavery and imprisonment picture in your mind the chains of the prisoner as he is led to his holding cell.

As, the chains that bind his hands and ankles we have little choice but to submit to the pull of the leader or be drug against our will. 

Paul writes in Romans 6:16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

As a Christian we’ve determined that we will follow Him, if then I say follow Him willingly don’t find yourself being drug, in, so doing you are resisting the Holy Spirit for it is He that is leading you to Christ and through your journey in life

 

D John

Love words can’t describe

How do we love thee Creator of the heavens and earth. We do not see thee with our natural eye yet you are there.

As we seek thee you make Yourself known to us that we may find thee. How do we love thee we love thee from within, our spirit is quickened by thee as we glorify thy name.

You are Most Holy and all love. You have cared for us before we have cared for ourselves, Father I thank thee for who you are, Father I love thee more than mere words can describe.

 

D John