Just wanted to record this on this day here =) I know I'll look back one day in future and this would be just one of the 10000^10000... blessings to praise and thank Him for!
I probably have another blog post somewhere titled "Amazed".
Wish I could record all the lessons that I have learned or those that I'm still learning, before I forget.
I've been too caught up with too many eternally useless things this term, I've been so tempted to despair, broken to the point where I've felt that everything seemed to be falling apart, withdrawn from the body of Christ, strayed away from God, sinned against Him again and again
and yet He has been faithful and so merciful.
"a bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;"
~Isaiah 42:3
"Come, let us return to the LORD;
for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
he has struck us down, and he will bind us up
After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.
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 6:1-3
I love the Old Testament. The parts where God speaks to His people in first person is so intimate and they just capture one's heart and soul. I remember reading somewhere in first year that although all of the Bible is God-breathed, there still is a difference reading from say Paul's letter about how amazing God is versus reading the LORD in the OT and Jesus in the NT speaking...
And so, here's me raving about the book of Isaiah.
5 For your Maker is your husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name;
and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
the God of the whole earth he is called.
6 For the Lord has called you
like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit,
like a wife of youth when she is cast off,
says your God.
7 For a brief moment I deserted you,
but with great compassion I will gather you.
8 In overflowing anger for a moment
I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”
says the Lord, your Redeemer.
9 “This is like the days of Noah to me:
as I swore that the waters of Noah
should no more go over the earth,
so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you,
and will not rebuke you.
10 For the mountains may depart
and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”
says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
~ Isaiah 54
I love how Isaiah 54, given the subheading The Eternal Covenant of Peace, is sandwiched between two intense passages...
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
~ Isaiah 53
and Isaiah 55...
“Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
3 Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
4 Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.
6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
7 let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
12 “For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the Lord,
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
Being a rambly person, I am partial toward long passages of goodness upon goodness.
The more I read them, the more I'm amazed. God relentlessly pursues us. He wrote the most beautiful poetry and spoke His love to us, He gave us the appreciation of such beauty, and by His grace, He made the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ shine in our hearts, He opened our eyes to behold His beauty... not only that, but as C.S. Lewis wrote, "the life-giving Life and the Beauty that makes beautiful"!
Praise God =)
I give thanks for knowing that I was made to spend my life here on earth praising and worshiping Him...and looking forward to the day when all of us would be praising and worshiping HIM forever and ever in Heaven!
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
~ 1 Corinthians 13:9-13
1 comment:
Congrats!! We'll miss you around, but I'm sure you'll be a blessing to others at Seneca and that you'll have a great time there :)
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