Rolled Away

At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.” So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth … Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the place has been called Gilgal to this day. Joshua 5:2-3, 9 

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. Matthew 28:2 

That day in Gibeath Haaraloth, when Joshua circumcised the Israelites, the Lord proclaimed, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Over a thousand years later, an angel rolled the stone away from Jesus’ tomb and he rose triumphant over sin and death. I never saw the connection before today. The “reproach of Egypt” was slavery. We are set free from slavery to sin by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And as we are raised with him through faith, the stone is rolled away from the tombs of our dead hearts and we are circumcised with a circumcision made without hands.

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. Colossians 2:11-12 (ESV) 

Got Questions describes the connection this way: 

“Egypt has a tremendous symbolic significance in the Bible. Israel’s redemption from Egypt is a picture of our deliverance from sin and death through faith in Jesus Christ. (Galatians 3:13; 4:5; Titus 2:14). While initially seen as a place of refuge in famine or threat, Egypt becomes a place of oppression and slavery. For New Testament believers, Egypt represents our old life of slavery to sin. All people are, by nature, slaves of sin, and Satan is a much harsher taskmaster than the Egyptian overseers.” — Got Questions  

As the stone was rolled away from the tomb when Jesus rose from the dead, the stone is rolled away from our dead hearts if we are raised with him. This is the circumcision of Christ – we were raised with him. By faith in Jesus, our stone of reproach, of shame, is rolled away and we are set free from our old life of slavery to sin, or, as Charles Spurgeon wrote, “set free from the prison-house of the sepulchre.” 

“Behold the person of your risen Lord! He was your hostage till the law had been honoured and divine authority had been vindicated: that being done, an angel was sent from the throne to roll back the stone, and set the hostage free. All who are in him— and all are in him who believe in him— are set free by his being set free from the prison-house of the sepulchre.” — Charles Spurgeon, The Power of His Resurrection, sermon given April 21, 1889.   

Release from “prison-house of the sepulchre.” This is something we cannot do for ourselves. We cannot roll the stone away for ourselves. Like Lazarus, before Christ calls us forth from the grave, we are dead in sin.

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh a and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus … Ephesians 2:1-6

Jonathan Edwards identified the stones that must be rolled away as our old hearts:

“And it appears, that every man in his first or natural state is a sinner; for otherwise he would then need no repentance, no conversion, no turning from sin to God. And it appears, that every man in his original state has a heart of stone; for thus the Scripture calls that old heart, which is taken away, when a new heart and new spirit is given. (Ezek. xi.19. and xxxvi. 26.)” — Jonathan Edwards¹

We are laying there dead without His power to call us forth. We cannot roll the hard stones of our hearts away ourselves, but we can respond to His voice calling our names. Take away the stone, Jesus commands, and death is defeated. The chains of sin and addiction are broken. With a loud voice He calls forth life and nothing can resist Him. Though dead and decaying we walk out new, resurrected, reborn. The grave clothes are taken off, the old sinful me is left there moldering on the ground.

Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. Mark 16:2-4  

“Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”  

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:24-25 

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you … Ezekiel 36:26-27 

Salvation 

¹The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. One, Chapter 11, “The Evidence of the Doctrine of Original Sin from What the Scripture Teaches of the Application of Redemption” (emphasis mine) https://ccel.org/ccel/edwards/works1/works1.vi.v.ii.html

Image in the Public Domain from pxhere 

Recognized Value

Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. John 5:22-23 

The Father wishes us to honor the Son, Jesus Christ. What does that mean “honor the Son”? I think it means to comprehend, or as much as we can comprehend, his great worth.  

Honor. The Greek word is timaó (τιμάω): to fix, or assign, the value, the price, the preciousness. 

Preciousness. Timaó comes from a word that means “a valuing,” “a price,” “money paid.” 

Price. The root of timaó, the root of honor, lies in the primary verb which means “to pay a penalty,” “to punish.”¹ 

This one Greek word, translated “honor,” tells the whole story of the preciousness of the Son. 

Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. Matthew 26:14-15 

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5 

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. Ephesians 1:7-8 

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious (recognized value in the eyes of the beholder) blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 1 Peter 1:18-19 

Father, help me to comprehend the incomprehensible preciousness of your Son and so give Him honor. Help me see, to seek and find, to dig for your hidden treasure. Open my eyes to see, to recognize His value. Open my heart to receive all the love and grace that you desire to lavish upon me. 

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and in his joy he went and sold all he had and bought that field.  

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. When he found one very precious pearl, he went away and sold all he had and bought it. Matthew 13:44-46 

¹All definitions from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and HELPS Word-studies by Discovery Bible at Bible Hub. 

Photo, free download from Pxfuel

Return

I am a return 

defective 

not working 

as designed 

return me  

take me back  

maybe you can get a refund 

or get a new one 

or maybe 

just replace the 

broken pa(heart)rt 

You have 

You are 

the guarantee 

I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart. Jeremiah 24:7 (ESV) 

guar·an·tee (Oxford Languages)
noun:
1. a formal promise or assurance (typically in writing) that certain conditions will be fulfilled, especially that a product will be repaired or replaced if not of a specified quality and durability.
2. Law: a formal pledge to pay another person’s debt or to perform another person’s obligation in the case of default.

Photo, detail from Walmart Returns & Exchanges, by Clemens v. Vogelsang 

Just in Case

(This poem is in response to Emma’s Your Wednesday Writing Prompt 5/4/23) 

He is 

just in case 

Upper-case 

and lower-case 

King and slave 

sacrifice and Savior 

Just 

and the justifier 

who came 

just at  

the right time 

Uppercase becoming  

lowercase 

JUST in case 

just in time 

for me 

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Romans 5:6 (NLT) 

It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Romans 3:26 (ESV) 

Photo free download from Pxfuel

To Die For

For the Passion of the Lord is here in truth, shaking the earth, rending the rocks and opening the tombs; and His Resurrection also is at hand. — Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), De Passione Domini 

“Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” Matthew 21:5 

You thought I was worth saving 
So you came and changed my life 
You thought I was worth keeping 
So you cleaned me up inside 

You thought I was to die for 
So you sacrificed your life 
So I could be free 
So I could be whole 
So I can tell everyone I know 

— Worth by Anthony Brown 

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD … Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. Psalm 118:26, 27 (NKJV) 

Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes … Psalm 96:12-13 

 

He Came to Call

Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. Matthew 9:13 

Jesus “came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” He came to call sinners. The Spirit has me questioning all the things I have taken for granted these many years. So, I started wondering, what does that mean – to call sinners? Here is what I came up with.¹ 

Jesus came to call, to call out, to call forth from the grave, “to call aloud, utter in a loud voice” like calling Lazarus from the tomb.  

He came to call us to approach and stand before him in hope, unafraid. To receive his mercy, “to embrace the offer of salvation by the Messiah.” 

He came to summon, invite to the banquet. The sinner’s name, my name, on the list, admitted and welcomed at the door. Because he came to name, to give a name to the sinner. Child of God.  

He came to call his sheep by name. He came to call us to follow, “to be his disciples and constant companions.” 

He came to call me and you, the sinners, the sinning, the sinful, the depraved and detestable. He came to call me and you, the ones who every day fall short of what God approves, who are wide of the mark, the blatant sinners. 

Jesus did not come to call the righteous, you know why?  

There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Romans 3:10-12  

Jesus did not come to call the righteous because there aren’t any. 

… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. Romans 3:23-25 

He is calling still, right now, today. He is calling those who know they are not righteous, the ones who long for cleansing and forgiveness and the embrace of his unfailing love. Jesus is offering you redemption, forgiveness, wholeness, peace, and new life, by his blood shed on the cross. He’s offering to remove your filthy clothes of self-righteousness, really bad choices, surrender to temptation, stinking continual failure after failure, and outright rebellion, and envelope you with the robe of his righteousness.  

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 1 Corinthians 1:30 

Take heart. Get up; he is calling you. Mark 10:49 

¹This was written using the definitions and commentary from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, NAS Exhaustive Concordance, and the HELPS Word-Studies found here https://biblehub.com/greek/2564.htm and here https://biblehub.com/greek/268.htm Parts in quotations are direct quotes from these references. 

Photo of tangled flotsam by Sheila Bair 

Shaken Off

For I am poor (depressed, in mind or circumstances, wretched, afflicted, 
humble, lowly, needy, poor)

and needy (in want, a beggar, needy, poor),

and my heart (inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding, seat of courage)

is wounded (profaned, defiled, polluted, desecrated, violated, wounded, pierced)

within me (my inward part, seat of thought and emotion, my center).

I fade away like an evening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust. Psalm 109:22-23 

I can identify with all of this Psalm – the depression, the woundedness, the feeling like I am in darkness. But I can especially relate to that last line: “I fade away like an evening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.”  

I can understand shaking off a locust or grasshopper in creepy disgust. The feel of their sticky little feet and they are ugly and they spit that brown goo. They are associated with curse and plague, eating everything in their path, destroying the green life. To me, this is like rejection, being viewed as creepy, disgusting, gross, and being shaken off. I feel like the real me was shaken off in my childhood, and I have been shaking myself off in self-hatred ever since. So, this is something that God is showing me that I have to work on for sure.  

On the other hand, locusts were considered a clean animal that you could eat, that could bring nourishment. According to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, peoples in the Middle East were “accustomed to feed upon locusts, either raw or roasted and seasoned with salt (or prepared in other ways), and the Israelites also (according to Leviticus 11:22) were permitted to eat them.” John the Baptist ate them in the wilderness. 

John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. Matthew 3:4 

John’s food was locusts AND honey. And in that verse is an amazing hidden treasure. There was another time that God fed his people in the desert with honey – honey from the rock. Moses identified the Rock as the Lord God. 

He [the Lord] is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just … He nourished him [Israel] with honey from the rock … Deuteronomy 32:4, 13 

… with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” Psalm 81:16 

John was fed in the desert place with these creepy, disgusting insects AND the honey from the Rock. Isn’t that what God does? He makes us, creepy as we are, nourishment, food for a hungry world with Christ, as we abide in Christ? 

I have felt shaken off in disgust. Yet, as I looked at the meaning of the word translated “shaken” in Psalm 109, I found treasure there too. Cool thing about this word is that it is “a primitive root, probably identical with 05286 (means growl), through the idea of the rustling of mane, which usually accompanies the lion’s roar.”¹ The Lion of Judah roars and I am shaken like a locust. 

But I don’t think He is roaring in disgust or rejection. He is roaring in anger at my sin and what the sins of others have done to me. He is roaring with the pain and groaning of a broken world. And like a lion shaking its mane, he will shake these things off and set me free. He will bring new life, resurrection. He will transform me by the renewing of my mind (Romans 12:2). 

Because, though I fade away like an evening shadow, or I am “like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness,”² the Lord will bring me light.  

The word translated “shaken” in the Psalm, is the same word as used in Job 38:13 “Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?” 

I love that verse, and I have blogged about it before, but now I see something else. Do you see it? The dawn arrives, the Light of the world comes and dispels the deepening darkness, and the earth is shaken, I am shaken. 

The Lion shakes his mane and roars. I am shaken off like a locust into a new day. Yet, not in disgust and rejection, but rather to “shake me forward and shake me free” as in the Rich Mullins song, Calling Out Your Name. 

From the place where morning gathers  
You can look sometimes forever ’til you see  
What time may never know  
What time may never know  
How the Lord takes by its corners this old world  
And shakes us forward and shakes us free  
To run wild with the hope  
To run wild with the hope   

Lion of Judah roar! I am depressed and wretched in my mind; my heart is wounded, pierced and violated. I have been shaken off and rejected as disappointing and disgusting. I am about to be swallowed up in the darkness. Bring your Light as the dawn and shake off my sticky little feet from clinging to this world, from wrong thinking and lies, from idolatries, from fear and doubt and despair. Sweep me up to run wild with you, wild with hope. 

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. Isaiah 40:22 

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe … Hebrews 12:28 

¹Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance 

²NET Bible notes. 

Image by Michael https://flic.kr/p/8cP1vw  

Greatly Huge Love

But I pray to you, LORD,  

in the time of your favor (an acceptable time, your will, good pleasure, delight);  

in your great (abundant, excellent, multitudinous, greatly huge)  

love (goodness, mercy, pity, kindness, lovingkindness, merciful kindness),  

O God, answer me (respond, sing, shout, testify, announce)  

with your sure (firm, faithful, true, assured, right, certain, trustworthy)  

salvation (deliverance, rescue, safety, saving). Psalm 69:13 

****

Lord at the time acceptable to You,  

Your will be done 

your delight, your good pleasure,  

(for you love mercy) 

In your uncontainable love  

your abundant, excellent, multitudinous, greatly huge love 

(language cannot contain it) 

sing, you who are my Song!  

Shout, testify, announce to me 

your salvation that is sure,  

forever unchanging, 

trustworthy,  

certain,  

Faithful and True 

****

This is what the Lord says: 

“In the time of my favor I will answer you, 
    and in the day of salvation I will help you; 
I will keep you and will make you 
    to be a covenant for the people, 
to restore the land 
    and to reassign its desolate inheritances, 
to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ 
    and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’ 

“They will feed beside the roads 
    and find pasture on every barren hill. 
They will neither hunger nor thirst, 
    nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them. 
He who has compassion on them will guide them 
    and lead them beside springs of water. Isaiah 49:8-10 

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. Isaiah 12:2 (ESV)  

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. Revelation 19:11 

Lord, thank you for your greatly huge love!

Photo copyright by Derek Bair

On Behalf of Humility

In your majesty ride forth victoriously in the cause of truth, humility and justice; let your right hand achieve awesome deeds. Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s enemies; let the nations fall beneath your feet. Psalm 45:4-5 

This verse jars me. It seems to me that riding forth in victory for the cause of humility (the Hebrew word means gentleness, meekness, humility) is a curious oxymoron. But there is a clue to its meaning and significance in the only other place in the Old Testament where this form of the noun is used. 

You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness (meekness, humility) made me great. Psalm 18:35 (ESV) 

His gentleness or meekness made me great or exalted me. The NIV 1984 edition translates this “you stoop down to make me great.” Still, victory over enemies and being great or exalted are not things I usually associate with humility or meekness. In this world, and in these days – all days – the humble and meek get trampled over. 

This made me wonder, what is the opposite of humility or meekness? Wouldn’t that be what rides forth victoriously? Here are some near antonyms and antonyms from Merriam-Webster: 

Near Antonyms for humility: aggressiveness, assertiveness, attitude, audaciousness, boldness, brashness, brassiness, cheek, cheekiness, cockiness, cocksureness, forwardness, overconfidence, swagger, swash, temerity, impertinence, impudence, insolence, nerve, sauciness, boastfulness, chest-thumping, self-applause, self-assumption, self-centeredness, self-complacency, self-conceit, self-glorification, self-importance, self-opinion, self-partiality, self-satisfaction, vaingloriousness, vanity, disdain, scorn, flamboyance, ostentation, ostentatiousness, showiness  

(Wow, did you see all those self-words?) 

Antonyms for humility: arrogance, assumption, bumptiousness, conceit, egoism, egotism, haughtiness, hauteur, huffiness, imperiousness, loftiness, lordliness, peremptoriness, pomposity, pompousness, presumptuousness, pretense, pretension, pretentiousness, pride, pridefulness, superciliousness, superiority, toploftiness 

You know what the opposite of humility sounds like to me? It sounds a lot like this: 

How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! 
You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; 
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ (Isaiah 14:12-14 ESV) 

According to the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary, the “Day Star” is a reference to Lucifer, “a fallen Once-bright Star.” It is “a title truly belonging to Christ (Re 22:16), ‘the bright and morning star,’ and therefore hereafter to be assumed by Antichrist.” 

The one who comes, riding forth arrogantly, assuming victory, with all his self-stuff and antonyms of humility – himself an antonym for our Lord – comes only for his own sake, comes as our enemy with nothing good for anyone outside his Self. 

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10 

Jesus came that we may have life, and in doing so He came in just the opposite way as did the enemy of our souls. 

Who, being in very nature God, 

    did not consider equality with God  

something to be used to his own advantage; 

rather, he made himself nothing 

    by taking the very nature of a servant, 

    being made in human likeness. 

And being found in appearance as a man, 

    he humbled himself 

    by becoming obedient to death— 

        even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6-8) 

In Psalm 45 above, right after the psalmist declares that Messiah will ride forth victoriously, there is this plea: 

Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s enemies; let the nations fall beneath your feet. Psalm 45:4-5 

 Yes! Jesus’ sharp arrows of Truth and Love have and will pierce the hearts of all of us – His enemies and hostile combatants – and the nations have and will fall beneath His feet. Jesus made a way for the gentile nations to come to God. Their – our – hostile, enemy-hearts have been pierced and we who love and follow Him are being changed and made into new creatures, falling at His feet. And, but, yet (!) every knee shall bow, changed or not, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  

Yes, our Lord Jesus did ride to bring victory in the cause of truth, humility, and justice, but it wasn’t on a snorting, pawing, white battle-horse (at least, not yet!), but on a lowly donkey’s foal.  

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9:9 

In your majesty ride forth victoriously … 

Image, Donkey by x70tjw https://flic.kr/p/re7XLj  

God is Pleased

For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me. Psalm 40:12 

“My heart fails.” How often lately have I felt that way! I was drawn to look closer at this verse and was amazed (but I shouldn’t have been!) to find it leading me to the passion of God for the reconciliation of the world to himself. It all leads back to the Cross where the way back to God was opened. Everything leads to the Cross. 

Though I went looking specifically at verse 12 and the “my heart fails” part, it was the next verse, Psalm 40:13, that arrested me. 

Be pleased (with me, delight yourself to make me acceptable, accomplish, accept the sacrifice, satisfy my debt, reconcile me, pardon me) to save (deliver, rescue) me, LORD; come quickly, LORD, to help me. Psalm 40:13 

It was the “be pleased” part that struck me. When I looked at the Hebrew I saw that it doesn’t just mean to be happy, but reaches out to embrace me by accepting the sacrifice made on my behalf.  

The Hebrew word is ratsah (רָצָה). It means, according to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, “to be pleased with; specifically, to satisfy a debt.” It means to be acceptable, approve, delight yourself, enjoy, pardon, be favorable, reconcile.  

God is pleased, delights even, to make me acceptable. He takes pleasure in accepting the sacrifice satisfying my debt. He delights to reconcile me, pardon me, save me!  

For God was pleased (took pleasure, was willing) to have all his fullness dwell in him [Jesus], and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Colossians 1:19-20 

What amazing grace! My heart fails from sin. I am oppressed and trapped under impossible debt. What is God’s response? He is pleased – takes pleasure, enjoys, is willing – to reconcile me to Himself, through the shed blood of His Son. It is not because He has to, but because it makes Him happy. It gives Him great pleasure. It delights Him. And even more than this, God is pleased to give me the kingdom, an everlasting inheritance with Him. God is pleased to do this as Jesus affirmed in Luke 12. 

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased (takes pleasure, is willing) to give you the kingdom. Luke 12:32 

I am overtaken now, not with my inescapable sin, but with His overwhelming, unfailing, unending, amazing grace and compassion. 

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion (inheritance, allotment) forever. Psalm 73:26