Be Still and Know

I don’t usually put such a long scripture reference in my blogs, but I have been so blessed lately with this Psalm. There is a message of peace and rest in it for all of us in this chaotic time.

Psalm 46 

¹ God is our refuge and strength, 
    an ever-present help in trouble. 
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way 
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 
3 though its waters roar and foam 
    and the mountains quake with their surging. 

⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, 
    the holy place where the Most High dwells. 
5 God is within her, she will not fall; 
    God will help her at break of day. 
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; 
    he lifts his voice, the earth melts. 

⁷ The Lord Almighty is with us; 
    the God of Jacob is our fortress. 

⁸ Come and see what the Lord has done, 
    the desolations he has brought on the earth. 
9 He makes wars cease 
    to the ends of the earth. 
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; 
    he burns the shields with fire. 
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; 
    I will be exalted among the nations, 
    I will be exalted in the earth.” 

¹¹ The Lord Almighty is with us; 
    the God of Jacob is our fortress. 

I am struck by the vivid contrast between the roaring and foaming and quaking and surging, the fighting and wars of the world – and the calm, peaceful, but mighty, unstoppable river and the quiet, healing streams of God. The former has been my life from as far back as I can remember. I am realizing lately that I always have just wanted each roaring, surging, quaking, fighting day to be over, looking so forward to the end. Even after I was out of the abusive environment of my growing up years, I took it with me in my head. I know it has been so hard for God to break through to me when I have been just plowing forward, rarely stopping to appreciate anything, just trying to survive another 24 hours. 

But look – at the start of this psalm and at the end – he is ever-present, vehemently present (v. 1), the Lord Almighty is with us (v. 11). He was always there and will always be there. God was always present for me growing up, and I knew it deep down and felt his Presence sometimes. Once in a while when dropped off for choir practice I would sneak out and sit alone in the huge, dark sanctuary and He was there. But most of the time, in my survival mode it was so hard to “be still and know” anything. 

My husband is just the opposite. This past weekend we camped by one of those quiet, healing streams and it was obvious. When we go for a walk, my husband can hardly go a hundred feet without stopping or sitting down and soaking in all the beauty, pointing out colors and light and birdsong and water-music on the rocks. I am just antsy and wanting to keep going (and get it over with). I have to fight to be still. 

Be still (sink, relax, cease, let go) and know (know, learn to know, perceive, consider, recognize, admit, acknowledge, confess) that He is God. Sit in the Presence, stand or walk, live and move and have your being in His Presence. Sink down, relax, let go and abide in His Presence.  

Ah, all this has to do with trust I am seeing. In all the horrible roaring and fearful surging, hateful, mocking, fighting, destroying world – we will not fear … God is within her, she will not fall. He makes the war cease within me, breaks the bow and shatters the spear of my enemy. I can trust the One who is here, present with me, always, from beginning to the end. I can sit down every little while on the path and sink into His arms, relax, cease striving, let go of every fear – and know the One who loves me. I can reach out my hand and take His right there beside me. He has been walking there all along. 

 

Photo of creek by Sheila Bair

From the Inside Out

Did you ever notice that when God told Moses to set up the tabernacle, he was instructed to do it from the inside out – starting with the ark and the Holy of Holies and going out (Exodus 40:1-33), ending with the outside courtyard? 

Then the Lord said to Moses: “Set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, on the first day of the first month. Place the ark of the covenant law in it and shield the ark with the curtain …

Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work. Exodus 40:1, 33 

What struck me was that they didn’t get the whole thing set up and then with great pomp and celebration bring in the ark at the end. They started with the ark, the place where they met with God, worshiped God, heard from God. They continued doing that as they built out from there. From the inside out. Isn’t that such a picture of the work of sanctification, of working out your salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12)? 

And then I read again the words of Jesus: 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Mark 12:30 

The little word translated “with” three times in this verse is the Greek work ek or ex (ἐκ, ἐξ) and actually means “from out of, out from and to, out from within.” The HELPS Word-studies¹ says about this word that it, “has a two-layered meaning (‘out from and to’) which makes it out-come oriented (out of the depths of the source and extending to its impact on the object).”

This is the same word that is used in these verses: 

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. Matthew 12:35 

But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. Matthew 15:18 

In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots (or from the roots up). Mark 11:20 

So, it struck me that Jesus is saying, “Love the Lord your God out of, or out from the depths of, your heart and out of your soul and out of all your mind and out of your strength.” And, as Jesus said this, he was starting from the most inside place – the Holy Place, our hearts where the Holy Spirit resides in us, meets with us, speaks to us – and going out to the most outside place, our abilities, might, power, strength. 

This means that our love for God is meant to come out of our inward parts, from our center, from our roots up, and not just be pasted on the outside because of a perceived obligation, or for show, or to get attention/approval/respect, or to earn our salvation. This kind of loving God is the opposite of what the Pharisees did. In fact, the same word, ek or ex, is used in Jesus’ blistering criticism of the Pharisees as hypocrites.  

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside (ek) you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Matthew 23:27-28 

Jesus was condemning the fact that, on the inside, from where love and adoration and worship should flow outward toward God, in their out-from-and-to place, was instead hypocrisy and wickedness. And “loving” God was confined to an outward show.  

Let me not be like that! Help me love you Lord from my heart first, out from the Holy Place, out from where the ark of my Temple stands, the place where you told Moses, “I will meet with you there” (Exodus 25:22). Let me be still there before the Mercy Seat and know you, and hear your voice, and receive your commands for each day. And then let your love flow out from there, filling my soul and my thinking, and giving me the grace and strength I need to love you and obey your commands and be your representative here on earth. 

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you (any hurtful, wicked, way of pain, idolatry), and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Psalm 139:23-24 (NLT) 

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me (in my heart, my inward part, my center), bless his holy name! Psalm 103:1 (ESV) 

For more on this subject, you can read Out of the Heart. 

¹Copyright 2021 by Discovery Bible 

Image in the Public Domain from Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Glow_(Unsplash).jpg  

Finding Rest

No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 11:27-30 

Usually, we hear or read the first and the second parts of this passage separately – the “no one knows the Father” part, and the “come to me and I will give you rest” part. So much so, that I have missed that they are both part of one idea that Jesus is communicating here. But when I read them together this last time, I finally got the message: that knowing God and finding rest have something to do with each other. 

The Lord told Moses, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:14). Peter encouraged us to have peace through the knowledge of God. 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 2 Peter 1:2-3 

The Greek word in this passage translated “knowledge” is epignósis. The root of this word is gnṓsis which is defined as “knowledge gleaned from first-hand (personal) experience, connecting theory to application; ‘application-knowledge,’ gained in (by) a direct relationship.” The difference between these two words is that the prefix epí intensifies the gnṓsis  part.  

The word gnṓsis is the word Mary used, speaking of intimate sexual relations, in Luke 1:34 when she asked the angel, “How will this be [that she would conceive a son] since I am a virgin, or since I know (gnṓsis) not a man?” What could be more intense than that? 

Yet, this knowledge of God, or epignósis, that Peter is talking about, the knowledge that gives grace and peace in abundance, is even more intense. The word epígnōsis means “contact-knowledge that is appropriate (apt, fitting) to first-hand, experiential knowing. This is defined by the individual context.” ¹ (I love that! Our God is an Each of Them God.) 

The Expositor’s Greek Testament expands the definition in a wonderful way: “ἐπίγνωσις [epignósis] implies a more intimate and personal relationship than γνῶσις [gnṓsis] … Grace and peace are multiplied in and through this more intimate heart knowledge of Jesus Christ, in contrast to a mere barren γνῶσις [gnṓsis].” The Pulpit Commentary completes the meaning with this: “[epignósis] comes to mean the knowledge, not merely of intellectual apprehension, but rather of deep contemplation; the knowledge which implies love – for only love can concentrate continually the powers of the soul in close meditation upon its object.” 

Peter uses both of these words a few verses later: 

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge (gnṓsis); and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge (epignósis) of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. 2 Peter 1:5-9 

I noticed that gnṓsis comes, in Peter’s list, after the basics – faith and goodness. That is a place where it’s easy to stop and settle down. I believe in Jesus and I am basically a good person. That’s the main thing. That’s good enough. But Peter says we are to add to this an application-knowledge of God and His Son. As we apply his Word to our lives, we will increasingly have the grace to do the hard stuff: self-control (dominion within, self-mastery), perseverance (steadfastness, cheerful or hopeful endurance, constancy, patient continuance or waiting), godliness (holiness), brotherly kindness (love of the brethren), and agape love (divine love, what God prefers). And this all leads, as we walk through it all with our Lord, to a more intense, deeper epignósis/love of Jesus Christ and the Father. 

So, the knowledge that Peter is writing about here is vital. It is not just barren head-knowledge. It is not only that we should know about God, but that we should know God through a personal relationship and experience. There is so much disinformation and character assassination about God. There is fear; there is distrust. There is resistance to His yoke. We, many times, end up taking our inheritance and fleeing our home, thinking that it is better/safer, even possible, to take care of ourselves. How is that going for you? For me, not so well. A disaster, every time. 

But Jesus is saying, come to me and I will show you who the Father really is, what He is like, His great heart – gentle and humble – whose burden for you is light. Whose yoke is kind – that is what the Greek word translated “easy” actually means – kind. Jesus invites to walk daily on the narrow way with Him, sharing this kind yoke, [t]ake my yoke upon you and learn from me. Jesus teaching us how to pray, experiencing God’s strengthening, sustaining presence, answering our prayers, comforting and encouraging us to keep going. In kindness, gentleness, humility. Then we will have peace in abundance. Then we will have everything we need to live a godly life. Then we will have rest. 

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3 

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 1 John 4:16 

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 

¹Discovery Bible 

Photo, Oxen Yoke, by BarbaraLN https://flic.kr/p/eztbDK  

Before I Was Myself

“Since the earliest period of our life was preverbal, everything depended on emotional interaction. Without someone to reflect our emotions, we had no way of knowing who we were.” ― John Bradshaw, Healing the Shame that Binds You 

No way of knowing who we were. Wow, that quote grabbed me. You see, I was raised by very wounded parents who were unable to reflect my emotions. And for most of my life I have been a blank. Not knowing who I was, even what I like, what I wanted, except to make sure everyone else had what they wanted. I never had a “look” or a “style” except to remain as invisible as possible. My ambitions were manufactured to please someone else. I didn’t even know what color my eyes really were until I was 40 years old and I attended a “find your fashion color palette” class. They looked at me and said, “you have green eyes.” What!? I had been told they were brown, and as I tried not to look at myself too much in the mirror, I thought they were brown.  

Around that time, I was at a weekend, overnight conference and in the middle of the night I got up to use the bathroom. Halfway across the dark hotel room I was rooted to the spot when I heard very clearly, deep in my spirit, God say to me, “You are mine.” It was the beginning of identity. Of course, in my messed-up state, I thought God meant that I was his servant and I needed to DO something. I frantically started searching around for that something. It is true that we have good works which God has “prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10),” but now looking back over 30 years later, I am beginning to see that that is not what God meant as he confronted his green-eyed daughter that night.  

Then the other day I read this wonderful poem by a fellow blogger: 

In HIM Redeemed 

Volumes of silence, powerful prayer 

From love filled praise, or deep despair 

Tangible faith, Father hears our heart 

Lifted belief, His love from the start 

No anonymity, from the bended knee 

He’s waited for our prayer to be 

Surrendered and lost, no longer bound 

Prayer by faith, in Him we’re found 

— Sisylala¹ 

There is no anonymity when I seek to know my Father. There is no being unrecognized or unseen. There is no being invisible – he looks me in the eye and knows who I am. Though surrendered and seemingly lost, in him my real identity is found. Not by wonderful things I have done. Not by what a “good girl” I have been. But rather by my-heart-to-his-heart knowing. My yearning for him reflected in his yearning for me. Knowing who I am is a reflection of God knowing me, and in knowing me choosing me. Astounding!  

Charles Spurgeon said it well: 

“If he had not loved me with a love as deep as hell and as unutterable as the grave, if he had not given his whole heart to me, I am sure he would have turned from me long ago. He knew what I would be, and he has had long time enough to consider of it; but I am his choice, and there is an end of it; and unworthy as I am, it is not mine to grumble, if he is but contented with me. But he is contented with me—he must be contented with me—for he has known me long enough to know my faults. He knew me before I knew myself; yea, he knew me before I was myself.” — Charles Spurgeon, The Incarnation and Birth of Christ, December 23, 1855 

Oh, my sweet Father God, you knew me before I was myself. You made me who I am. You made me to belong to you. Thank you for your amazing knowing and loving! Eye-to-eye, face-to-face, heart-to-heart, I am yours and you are mine (!) 

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless (strengthless, feeble, weak), Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8 

But you, O LORD, know me; you see me … Jeremiah 12:3 (ESV) 

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” … Jeremiah 1:5 

My beloved is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies. Song of Solomon 2:16 

¹https://sisylala.wordpress.com/2022/12/21/in-him-redeemed/  (emphasis mine)

Photo free to use from Pexels, Man Carrying Baby Drawing Their Foreheads, by Josh Willink 

Mislaying God

Do the mountain waters run dry, the cold flowing streams? But my people have forgotten me; they make offerings to false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, not the highway. Jeremiah 18:14-15 (ESV) 

The word translated “forgotten” in the above verse is the Hebrew word that means “to mislay, i.e. to be oblivious of, from want of memory or attention … to forget.”¹ 

It sounds so casual, doesn’t it? To mislay God. Like forgetting where you put your car keys. How does that happen? From lack of attention, by being oblivious to his Presence, by not remembering what he has done for us in the past. Just going about our daily struggle alone. But what does God say about mislaying us? The same word is used in this verse: 

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. Isaiah 49:15-16 

Like a mother clinging to the baby who is fastened for life unto her breast. There is no lack of attention there, but the compassionate giving and the riveted seeking and receiving of life itself. This is the perfect picture of God pursuing us pursuing him.  

My soul clings (abides fast, cleaves fast together, follows close hard after, is joined together) to you; your right hand upholds me. Psalm 63:8 (ESV) 

You know what the exact opposite of “mislaying” God is? 

Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth. Hosea 6:3 (ESV) 

That word translated “press on” is radaph (רָדַף) and means to pursue, to run after, to hunt, to chase down. It even means to persecute. This is what God desires, this kind of passion in seeking Him. The idea of persecuting God reminds me of the parable that Jesus told about seeking God in prayer. 

In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected men. And there was a widow in that town who kept appealing to him, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect men, yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice. Then she will stop wearing me out with her perpetual requests.’ Luke 18:2-5 (Berean Bible) 

Let us not mislay our compassionate, loving, faithful Lord. Rather, let us cling to him as to life itself. Let us chase after him, even pester him with our attention, for that is his desire.  

But my eyes are fixed on you, Sovereign LORD; in you I take refuge. Psalm 141:8a 

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Psalm 42:1-2 

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. Psalm 63:1 

Read about how God pursues us here Chase Me Down

¹Definition from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance 

Photo, Mano! By Aurimas Mikalauskas https://flic.kr/p/6hqwdF (I love how the baby has her eyes fixed on the mom!) 

Drenched in Tears

I’m kind of reluctant to admit this, but most times God speaks to me at church more with the lyrics of the worship songs than with the sermon. Two songs in the last month have been light to me, O Praise the Name¹, and Goodness of God². 

Singing O Praise the Name Sunday, I was arrested by these lyrics: 

His body bound and drenched in tears 
They laid Him down in Joseph’s tomb 
The entrance sealed by heavy stone 
Messiah still and all alone 

I suddenly realized, or I guess it really sank in, that Jesus’ followers didn’t know he was going to rise from the dead. They didn’t know. Jesus’ dead body was drenched in tears.  

We are settled into the comfy assurance of the resurrection. Even people who aren’t Christians know Jesus rose from the dead. He is famous for it. And that is good, but also bad. See, knowing Jesus rose from the dead is like the biggest spoiler ever in the history of the world. But they didn’t know. 

Maybe it is necessary for us to experience death and grief and utter despair in order to fully experience resurrection, new life, joy, amazing grace. Not arrogant assumption; not ho-hum presumption. That’s where the second song comes in. 

You have led me through the fire 
In the darkest night 
You are close like no other 
I’ve known You as a Father 
I’ve known You as a Friend 
And I have lived in the goodness of God  

… And all my life You have been faithful  
And all my life You have been so, so good 
With every breath that I am able 
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God 

“All my life you have been faithful.” That lyric has been vibrating through me like a bell. Because I never fully realized until lately just how faithful He has been in my life. I really don’t remember much of my childhood. I am sure that I deliberately forgot it, tried to not even experience it as it happened. But God has been healing me and He is getting down to the core pain. I am realizing that I endured decades of abuse, mostly emotional. But God was always there. All my life he has been faithful. 

Amazing grace. Resurrection joy – His but also our own and those we love and pray for. Think of the joy and wonder and the testimony we would miss – the witness we would not have – if there was no suffering, no grief and despair, no death. Death of hopes and dreams, death of relationships, physical pain and struggle. Would we really know God as Father, as Friend, as good, as faithful, if we had never known abandonment, rejection, fear, the end of the road, the edge of the cliff, the sealed-up grave? 

Jesus had to experience death in order to set us free. Maybe we have to experience a kind of death in order to have the solid-rock faith, the knowing God’s faithfulness, the hope and confidence that we can bring to others. Maybe we need to be drenched in tears so that we can say, with every breath that we are able, all my life He has been faithful. All my life He has been so, so good. 

“God comforts us so that we can comfort others. God grants us mercy so that we can be merciful to others. God stands whole-heartedly with us in our suffering so that we will stand whole-heartedly with others who are suffering. God never leaves us alone in our suffering so that we won’t leave others alone in theirs.” — Dave Zuleger³ 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.  2 Corinthians 1:3–5 

For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Revelation 7:17 

¹O Praise the Name. Songwriters: Martin W. Sampson / Benjamin William Hastings / Dean Ussher 

²Goodness of God. Songwriters: Jason Ingram / Ed Cash / Brian Mark Johnson / Jenn Louise Johnson / Ben David Fielding 

³God Brings Us Suffering for Others’ Sake https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/god-brings-us-suffering-for-others-sake    

Image in the Public Domain

To Be Conversant

Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. Genesis 5:24 

Noah walked with God. Genesis 6:9 

What does it mean to “walk with God”? The Hebrew word is halak (הָלַךְ). It means to go, to come, to walk. It means to walk along, to walk apace, to walk forward, to walk on continually. But the part of the definition that I love the most is: to be conversant.  

Enoch and Noah were conversant with God.  

Gotquestions.org answers the question of what it means to walk with God this way: 

“Walking with God is not an activity reserved for a select few. [Not just an Enoch or a Noah, but me and you!] God desires all of His children to walk with Him. What happens when we walk with someone? Imagine that you and a close friend are enjoying a walk down a country lane. You are in close proximity. You talk, laugh, listen, and share your hearts. Your attention is focused on this person to the exclusion of almost everything else. You notice the beauty around you or an occasional distraction, but only to point it out to your companion. You share it together. You are in harmony, and you both enjoy the peaceful camaraderie. Walking with God is like that. When we enter into an intimate heart relationship with God through faith in His Son (Hebrews 10:22), He becomes our heart’s greatest desire. Knowing Him, hearing His voice, sharing our hearts with Him, and seeking to please Him become our all-consuming focus.” https://www.gotquestions.org/walk-with-God.html (my note added)

When I first gave my life to the Lord, I was part of a small congregation that was renovating a building to use as a church meeting place. One afternoon as I was working there not far from one of the pastors, I heard, what sounded to me, like him mumbling and talking to himself. It was pretty loud and it startled me, and I was a little embarrassed for him until I moved a little closer and realized he was not talking to himself, but to God. Not really praying, like we think of formal prayer, but just conversing with God about the work and each little problem that came up.  

That really impressed me and I have tried (when I remember!) to emulate this continual conversation. I think that it pleases God – even if I am struggling and wrestling with what is happening in my life. I believe it is a way of remembering Him, of acknowledging our need of Him, of recognizing His abiding, boundless, never-ending, unchanging, relentless, compassionate Presence with us. It is also, I think, what Paul was talking about when he said to pray continually. 

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 

“… do you know what it is to pray continually? Old Brother Lawrence, who wrote The Practice of the Presence of God, said ‘If I’m washing dishes I do it to the glory of God and if I pick up a straw from the ground I do it to the glory of God. I’m in communion with God all the time.’ He said, ‘The rules tell me that I have to take time off to go alone to pray, and I do, but such times do not differ any from my regular communion.’ He had learned the art of fellowship with God, continuous and unbroken.” — A.W. Tozer ⁱ 

Washing dishes, cleaning toilets, shoveling snow – whatever and wherever. Because of what Jesus did for me on the cross, I have entered within the veil, into the Holy of Holies, into His Presence, and I can know God, be with God, walk with God continually. And that is His passionate desire. 

“There is no manner of life in the world more sweet or more delicious than continual conversation with God.” — Brother Lawrence

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him [or know him], and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV) 

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13 (ESV) 

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8 (ESV) 

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:25 

As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” 2 Corinthians 6:16 

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” Genesis 3:8-9 

ⁱWorship: The Missing Jewel of the Evangelical Church https://www.hsraadio.net/raamat/Tozer-Worship%20The%20Missing%20Jewel.pdf 

Image free download from Pixabay

Compassionate and Gracious

He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Psalm 103:7-8 (ESV) 

And He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness … “ Exodus 34:6 

The psalmist says that God made his ways and acts known to Moses. God always wants to be known. I am thinking that I should pay attention when God defines himself. God describes himself this way: compassionate and gracious (or merciful), slow to anger and abounding in love. I looked at the first two attributes and was overwhelmed. I would like to save the second two for a future blog. 

The first two words are the Hebrew rachum and channun. These two words are each used thirteen times in the Old Testament. Linked together, to describe God, they are used twelve times. Alone or together, they are always only used as attributes of God. Rachum means full of compassion, merciful; channun means gracious, “as hearing the cry of the vexed debtor.”ⁱ 

John J. Parsons has this to say about these concepts: 

“Notice first that the LORD calls himself rachum v’chanun, often translated ‘merciful and gracious.’ The noun rechem means ‘womb’ in Hebrew, indicating that God’s compassion is like a mother’s deep love for her child. The word chanun (from chen, grace or favor) indicates that God is a graceful giver who is favorably disposed to help those in need. God is compassionate and favorable to those who call upon Him.” — John J. Parsons, Hebrew for Christiansⁱⁱ  

The adjective rachum comes from the verb racham, to love, to have compassion, or to compassionate. A.W. Tozer explains it this way: 

“According to the Old Testament, mercy has certain meanings: to stoop in kindness to an inferior, to have pity upon and to be actively compassionate. It used to be a verb form of the word compassion, but we don’t use it anymore — maybe it’s because we don’t have the concept anymore. God actively ‘compassionates’ suffering men — I like that wonderfully well. For God to feel compassion at a distance is one thing, but for God actively to compassionate with people is something else.”– A.W. Tozer, The Attributes of God  

The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. Psalm 145:8-9 

The second word, channun or gracious – hearing the cry of the debtor and being favorably disposed to help – reminds me of the parable Jesus told in Matthew 18 of the man who came before the master with overwhelming, impossible debt. But when he cried out for mercy “the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.” 

But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Psalm 86:15 

The compassion and grace of God are tightly woven together. God’s rachum, the deep love of a parent for a child, moves him to be gracious. Tozer notes in his book, The Attributes of God, that grace and mercy are not things that God does, but who God is. God is forever the compassionate Father favorably disposed toward those who cry out to him, always welcoming home the prodigal. 

“And Jesus was saying to us, ‘You went away in Adam, but you’re coming back in Christ. And when you come back, you’ll find the Father hasn’t changed. He’s the same Father that He was when you all went out, every man to his own way. But when you come back in Jesus Christ you’ll find Him exactly the same as you left Him–unchanged. And the Father ran and threw his arms around him and welcomed him and put a robe and a ring on him and said, ‘This my son was dead, and he’s alive again’ ([Luke] 15:24). This is the grace of God.” — A.W. Tozer, The Attributes of God (emphasis mine) 

The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. James 5:11 

The writer of Hebrews encourages us to confidently draw near to God because of these two attributes. 

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy (pity, compassion) and find grace (kindness, “the Lord’s favor – freely extended to give Himself away to people because He is ‘always leaning toward them’”)ⁱⁱⁱ to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16 

Isn’t that amazing and wonderful? The word for “grace” in the Greek includes the picture of God “freely giving himself away to people” and “always leaning toward them.” Like a lover, totally focused on the beloved, leaning forward wanting to hear every word, every sigh. Like a parent leaning forward to catch the newly walking toddler. Like the father leaning forward, straining to see the very first glimpse of his returning child. 

For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him. 2 Chronicles 30:9 (ESV) 

… as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. Psalm 103:12-14 

Come back. If you have wandered far away, come back. If you are near, but have hardened your heart, come back. Come. Jesus has freely given himself for you on the cross. He is leaning toward you. He is the same unchanging God that introduced himself to Moses, “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” 

Salvation

Image free download from Pxfuel

Understands

Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 9:23-24 (ESV) 

The Hebrew word translated “understands” above is sakal (שָׂכַל). It means to give attention to, consider, ponder, to have understanding or wisdom. The word is used 63 times in the Old Testament, but the ironic and tragic thing about this word is the context of its first use in Genesis 3:6. 

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise (sakal), she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Genesis 3:6 (ESV) 

God yearns for us to understand and know him, but Adam and Eve desired to have their own understanding – to know and choose for themselves what was good and true. Adam and Eve had ample opportunity to give attention to, consider, ponder, come to understand God. But, if they had, they would have known that he not only practices love, but is love, he is just and righteous. The charge that God was keeping something from them would not have rung true.  

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4-5 (ESV) 

Instead of knowing and understanding God and his wisdom, they wanted to decide for themselves what was good and evil. The ironic thing is that they did not become like God as promised, but, instead, became their own counterfeit gods. And they found themselves hiding from the real wisdom, the real light, the real life.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Genesis 3:8 

Isn’t it still the same today? But God is still calling out.

Then the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” Genesis 3:9 

He is still seeking. He is still calling. He is still knocking. Let us come out from our hiding places and know the One who loves us.

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. John 17: 3 (ESV) 

“It was not Adam who sought God, but God who sought Adam. And this has been the order ever since.” 
~ Arthur Pink, Gleanings in Genesis 

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10

So let us know and become personally acquainted with Him; let us press on to know and understand fully the [greatness of the] LORD [to honor, heed, and deeply cherish Him]. His appearing is prepared and is as certain as the dawn, And He will come to us [in salvation] like the [heavy] rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth. Hosea 6:3 (Amplified)

Image by Jack Bair, all rights reserved

Holiness – Set Apart

Be holy, because I am holy. 1 Peter 1:16 

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. Ephesians 1:5 

What exactly does it mean to be holy? According to James V. Brownsonⁱ there are three aspects to holiness:  

• Differentiation, or being set apart from the world 
• Openness to God, an availability to God’s presence, or being set apart to God 
• Purity  

Being Set Apart from the World 

Brownson writes that “[i]t is important to note that this setting apart is never a withdrawal from the world, but rather a differentiation for a particular kind of service to the world.” Being set apart from the world, or chosen, is mentioned a lot in the Bible. 

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 
1 Peter 2:9  

The Greek word translated “chosen” in the above verse is eklegomai, which means to be chosen and set apart from the rest of the world. It comes from two words that literally mean to call out. To speak, to call by name, to name out of, away from. You are chosen, set apart, called by name out of, away from, the world and into God’s glorious Kingdom. God called my name fifty years ago (He Knows My Name).  

The Greek word translated “called” in 1 Peter 2:9 is kaleo. It also means to invite, as in “Go therefore to the main roads and invite (kaleo) to the wedding feast as many as you find (Matthew 22:9),” and to name, as in “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call (kaleo) his name Jesus (Luke 1:31).” 

So, the first part of holiness is answering God’s call to “come out” of the world. We are called by name. We are invited to the eternal banquet. This is the first step to holiness. 

He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. John 10:3 

He has taken me to the banquet hall, and his banner over me is love. Song of Songs 2:4 

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Psalm 23:5 

Set Apart to God 

If the first part is turning from the world, the second part of holiness is turning toward and focusing on God, knowing him more and more deeply. As Brownson writes, “We are not only set apart from the world; we are set apart to God. There is an openness to God, an availability to God’s presence, which is also central to holiness.” Brother Lawrence called this The Practice of the Presence of God. Being in his presence makes possible the “unrelenting, uncompromising obedience to God” that Pastor Troy spoke of (see the first blog in this series, Holiness). 

“His [God’s] greater purpose in bringing them [Israel] out of Egypt was to take them into Canaan, his land of fullness. In short, he brought them out of slavery in order to bring them into his heart and into his love. He wanted a people who were totally dependent on his mercy, grace and love. The same is still true for his people today.” — David Wilkerson  

A.W. Tozer wrote that “we are saved [or brought out] to know God, to enter His wonder-filled Presence through the new and living way [Jesus] and remain in that Presence forever.” So, to me, this is the first reason to pursue holiness, to submit to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Holiness is required to see God and He desires passionately to be seen and known, to be with us. The second reason for pursuing holiness has to do with becoming like him. 

William Wilberforce wrote that “the nature of the holiness, to which the desires of the true Christian are directed, is no other than the restoration of the image of God.”ⁱⁱ 

I love that – “the restoration of the image of God.” This happens as we behold him, as he is our focus, our one thing, as we begin to dwell in the Presence. 

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV) 

And this leads us into Brownson’s third part of holiness – purity – which we will look at in the next blog. 

J.D. Walt has a wonderful series called The Second Half of the Gospel which I highly recommend. You can read it here: https://www.seedbed.com/?s=second+half+of+the+gospel  

Until next time, let us not stop at being separated from the world, at “being saved,” but “Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD!” (Hosea 6:3a) 

“The truest way of delighting in the Lord is to obey him in our coming and going, at home and on the road, in our lying down and rising up, by impressing it on our hearts and heads and hands and expressing it through every word and deed. The only way to love the Lord our God is with our whole hearts, minds, and strength. Holiness is full surrender to the unrivaled reign of Jesus over every part of who we are. It is all of you delighting in all of him.” — Matt LeRoy (The Only Way to Love)

ⁱ Holiness and Hermeneutics. James V. Brownson. Western Theological Seminary. 1999. 

^{ii A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System. William Wilberforce. 1820.} 

Image of sheep in pasture by Sheila Bair