‘For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.’ Psalms 30:5(NLT)
‘“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned. Yes, the Lord has punished her twice over for all her sins.”’ Isaiah 40:1-2(NLT)
‘Sing for joy, O heavens! Rejoice, O earth! Burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on them in their suffering. Yet Jerusalem says, “The Lord has deserted us; the Lord has forgotten us.” “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.’ Isaiah 49:13-16(NLT)
‘“Fear not; you will no longer live in shame. Don’t be afraid; there is no more disgrace for you. You will no longer remember the shame of your youth and the sorrows of widowhood. For your Creator will be your husband; the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is his name! He is your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the earth. For the Lord has called you back from your grief— as though you were a young wife abandoned by her husband,” says your God. “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will take you back. In a burst of anger I turned my face away for a little while. But with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord , your Redeemer.’ Isaiah 54:4-8(NLT)
Along with St. Augustine we can say that love is ultimate. But also with Augustine we can point out that the good that God gives gets twisted; that is the very definition of what evil is. So even love gets twisted and focused on self. As sinners we are so self-focused by nature, and we live in a self-focused world. As long as we are self-focused, we miss out on His love.
We don’t want to miss what is right in front of us because of fear or pride or unbelief. We don’t want to go through life going through all the gyrations only to get to the end and discover that we missed the point.
A proverb, having numerous variations over the centuries, warns us gently that seemingly insignificant omissions can have grave and unforeseen consequences.
For want of a nail, the shoe was lost,
For want of a shoe, the horse was lost,
For want of a horse, the rider was lost,
For want of a rider, the message was lost,
For want of a message, the battle was lost,
For want of a battle, the war was lost,
For want of a war, the kingdom was lost,
For want of a nail, the world was lost.
We may be saved and enter heaven only to discover we have not enjoyed the fullness of His love here on earth that He intended. Amy Carmichael shares: “Julian of Norwich [in the 1300’s] wrote: ‘It is God’s will that we take His comfortings as largely and as mightily as we may take them, and also He willeth that we take our troubles as lightly as we may take them, and set them at nought. Yes, for “joy cometh in the morning.”‘”
Samuel Rutherford 300 years later wrote, “I cannot get the way of Christ’s love. Had I known what He was keeping for me, I should never have been so faint-hearted.”
Can you relate to these old saints? We often find it hard to fully receive this love, feeling unworthy, unlovable, or unacceptable. We have a deep sense in our soul that we might be missing the point. But if we miss this point we will miss many of the blessings and the opportunities He has for us, now and in the future.
from What Is True Love?