“God met me more than halfway, He freed me from my anxious fears. Look at Him; give Him your warmest smile. Never hide your feelings from him. When I was desperate, I called out, and God got me out of a tight spot... Blessed are you who run to Him.”
~ Psalms 34:4-8 (MSG - excerpts)
I find this image absolutely breathtaking.
When I saw it in the context of what I was looking for... this idea that He meets us in the middle of our mess... all I could think was, even when we think we're a hot mess or the circumstances of the world have landed us in a mess, or perhaps even more likely, we've made a mess of things ourselves, I bet the Father looks down at us and sees this... sees breathtaking beauty, even (and maybe especially) in and with the mess.
He seeks us.
He PURSUES us!
What a privilege, what a joy! What an epic demonstration of love.
Lost sheep and lost coins all, until He finds us and wraps us in the everlasting arms.
The seemingly contradictory irony is, He's there all along, we just have to turn to Him. He's always just a choice or a turning of the heart away. Even in our mess.
Yes, He will meet us where we are, but, we still have to take a step toward Him and choose Him.
We are His children and it's our job to approach the throne of grace, to come before Him.
Sometimes, for me, that can be moment by moment. Someone once said, "When I can't look myself in the face, God turns my head to look at His."*
He meets us where we are.
We've all heard the kitschy cliches...
let your mess become your message & let your test become your testimony
Well, folks, cliches are cliches for a reason. I suppose the ULTIMATE word on the matter is this...
God came down from the heavens to meet us here on earth, to quite literally meet us where we are.
He came so we would know, He gets it. He understands discomfort, starvation, betrayal, pain, hardship, all of it...
He gets it.
He came to the mess we humans have made of His earthly experience (because He knew exactly what we would do with it,) to meet us where we are... and in the final analysis, to bring us home.
Dear dear friends, I pray we all take the time to be still... to be still and know precisely who He is. I pray we're each able to allow Him to lift us out of our mess and wrap us in His loving embrace. I pray we drink deep from the waters of Life and know His Peace.
"The Son of Man came to look for and to save people who are lost." ~ Luke 19:10 (CEV)
"'... I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright Morning Star.' The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!' Let the one who hears say, 'Come!' And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely." ~ Revelation 22:16b-17 (BSB)
"I sought the LORD, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame." ~ Psalm 4:5 (NIV)
"Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." ~ Matthew 18:4 (KJV)
May the Good Lord bless you and keep you, friends... always, in all ways. Amen.
Bonus praise song... ♥
* P.S. It turns out that "someone" was Michele Cushatt... I don't know if she was the originator, but she did say it once upon a time. :)
Comments