This day before Christmas Eve I want to wish all who stop through a
Merry Christmas
Christmas, as it relates to my understanding of Song of Solomon is...
Well, it's like looking at the baby pictures of the one you have fallen in love with. Jesus knew when we were conceived. He saw us in our mother's womb and was there the day we were born. The Christmas Story is Him sharing His conception and birth with us since we couldn't be there not being omnipresent and infinite like Him. ;)
I've started posts that carry on the idea from Song of Solomon of Ascending and Revealing but as expressed in other portions of scripture. However, instead of starting a series in the middle of everybody's holidays, we'll start afresh after the first of the year.
Until then, keep focusing and celebrating on the miraculous conception and birth of the Lover of our souls.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Personal Study/Journey 4
Matthew 11:28 Come unto Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Vs 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.
Vs 30 For My yoke is easy, and My load is light.
Here's another place Jesus calls us to come to Him. Here is another place that He reveals His nature. In Exodus God refers to Himself as gracious, compassionate, etc. Here, Jesus shows us that he is gentle and humble in heart. And He has the gift of 'rest' for us. Just being near Him and learning from Him in His presence will give us rest.
He knows that this world makes us tired and loads us up with burdens too heavy to bear. He knows this. He sees it. He wants to make things better for us. He calls us to Himself with promises of rest. With promises that His yoke is easy and His load is light.
Some professing to be leaders in Christianity tie up heavy burdens onto people. But they are a false leadership. They do not reflect the nature of Jesus. This is why we must press past those who 'shut off the kingdom of heaven from (in front of) men' (Mt 23:13) and find Him for ourselves. He has so much to give to our weary souls.
Vs 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.
Vs 30 For My yoke is easy, and My load is light.
Here's another place Jesus calls us to come to Him. Here is another place that He reveals His nature. In Exodus God refers to Himself as gracious, compassionate, etc. Here, Jesus shows us that he is gentle and humble in heart. And He has the gift of 'rest' for us. Just being near Him and learning from Him in His presence will give us rest.
He knows that this world makes us tired and loads us up with burdens too heavy to bear. He knows this. He sees it. He wants to make things better for us. He calls us to Himself with promises of rest. With promises that His yoke is easy and His load is light.
Some professing to be leaders in Christianity tie up heavy burdens onto people. But they are a false leadership. They do not reflect the nature of Jesus. This is why we must press past those who 'shut off the kingdom of heaven from (in front of) men' (Mt 23:13) and find Him for ourselves. He has so much to give to our weary souls.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Personal Study/Journey 3
Exodus 34:6b ... "The LORD, the LORD GOD, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth (faithfulness).
Vs 7 Who keeps lovingkindness for the thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."
We've had this scripture before in my November 26th post. We talked about how God wants to reveal Himself to us. This is a good verse for not just teaching about God's nature and character. It is also good to meditate on for two reasons.
1.) We see God's goodness toward those who turn to Him.
2.) He assures us that He IS just and will call into account the unrepentant someday.
I like meditating on His compassion, graciousness, patience, lovingkindness, and faithfulness.
Living in a world dominated by people who are harsh, impatient, abusive, hateful, and faithless, it is good to know that God is there for me to draw near to, for me to love, and rely on.
Vs 7 Who keeps lovingkindness for the thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."
We've had this scripture before in my November 26th post. We talked about how God wants to reveal Himself to us. This is a good verse for not just teaching about God's nature and character. It is also good to meditate on for two reasons.
1.) We see God's goodness toward those who turn to Him.
2.) He assures us that He IS just and will call into account the unrepentant someday.
I like meditating on His compassion, graciousness, patience, lovingkindness, and faithfulness.
Living in a world dominated by people who are harsh, impatient, abusive, hateful, and faithless, it is good to know that God is there for me to draw near to, for me to love, and rely on.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Personal Study/Journey 2
The second scripture is like the first.
Matthew 23:37c ... How often I wanted to gather your children together , the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.
Here Jesus is lamenting over Jerusalem. And He speaks more openly of His desire for His people. He desires to gather them to Himself. Yet, here again, we see their unwillingness. It broke His heart.
And again, I can learn a lot from this.
My prayer, after meditating on this verse, might look like this:
"Lord, You longed to gather them. Show me how you want to gather me to Yourself. Forgive my unwillingness. Forgive my distraction and hardness of heart. Forgive my bitterness and resentment. Show me how to be willing to be gathered. I want to be more 'gatherable'."
I don't have to relate this verse and the last one to SOS. But I can.
The Beloved was totally 'gatherable'. When He brought her to His chambers, she was not unwilling. When He brought her to His banqueting table she came freely, no hesitation, no distraction. When He offered her His shade, like an apple tree or the wing of a hen, she sat down and took great delight.
May God help us all to be gatherable to Him.
I know that's what I want.
Matthew 23:37c ... How often I wanted to gather your children together , the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.
Here Jesus is lamenting over Jerusalem. And He speaks more openly of His desire for His people. He desires to gather them to Himself. Yet, here again, we see their unwillingness. It broke His heart.
And again, I can learn a lot from this.
My prayer, after meditating on this verse, might look like this:
"Lord, You longed to gather them. Show me how you want to gather me to Yourself. Forgive my unwillingness. Forgive my distraction and hardness of heart. Forgive my bitterness and resentment. Show me how to be willing to be gathered. I want to be more 'gatherable'."
I don't have to relate this verse and the last one to SOS. But I can.
The Beloved was totally 'gatherable'. When He brought her to His chambers, she was not unwilling. When He brought her to His banqueting table she came freely, no hesitation, no distraction. When He offered her His shade, like an apple tree or the wing of a hen, she sat down and took great delight.
May God help us all to be gatherable to Him.
I know that's what I want.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Personal Study/Journey
My musings on SOS 2:15 is taking longer than I thought.
So instead of abandoning this blog, perhaps writing about other scriptures that are speaking to me now might be nice. So here we go, the first of several.
John 5:39 You search the Scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me;
Vs 40 and you are unwilling to come to Me, that you might have life.
Jesus spoke this to the Pharisees. He pointed out that the main job of scripture is to bear witness of Him.
Too many people use it for other things like for support for a personal opinion or to gain dominance over another. When they do this, they are using Scripture wrongly.
Scripture is to help us find and understand God. He wants to reveal Himself to us.
I like this scripture and take it to heart because here Jesus is saying that He wants us to come to Him. And it helps me to see that sometimes (more often than what we want to admit) we are unwilling to come to Him. When I meditate and pray with this verse my prayer might go along the lines of...
"Dear God, forgive me for when I'm unwilling to come to you. Forgive me when other things pull me away and distract me so that I'm not in the frame of mind to come to you." etc.
Because the Pharisees are not the only ones who have difficulty in letting their guard down long enough to go to Him. We all have trouble from time to time and it's not wrong to ask God to help us in this area.
So instead of abandoning this blog, perhaps writing about other scriptures that are speaking to me now might be nice. So here we go, the first of several.
John 5:39 You search the Scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me;
Vs 40 and you are unwilling to come to Me, that you might have life.
Jesus spoke this to the Pharisees. He pointed out that the main job of scripture is to bear witness of Him.
Too many people use it for other things like for support for a personal opinion or to gain dominance over another. When they do this, they are using Scripture wrongly.
Scripture is to help us find and understand God. He wants to reveal Himself to us.
I like this scripture and take it to heart because here Jesus is saying that He wants us to come to Him. And it helps me to see that sometimes (more often than what we want to admit) we are unwilling to come to Him. When I meditate and pray with this verse my prayer might go along the lines of...
"Dear God, forgive me for when I'm unwilling to come to you. Forgive me when other things pull me away and distract me so that I'm not in the frame of mind to come to you." etc.
Because the Pharisees are not the only ones who have difficulty in letting their guard down long enough to go to Him. We all have trouble from time to time and it's not wrong to ask God to help us in this area.
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