The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. (Zephaniah 3:17)

The New Covenant is a better covenant. It has been enacted on better promises. (Heb 8:6) This verse reminds me why the glory of the new exceeds that of the old. Its the promise of a new heart …

And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. (Ezekiel 11:19)

Here is how God fulfilled it…

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Christ living in us changes everything or, at least it should. We could modify our old testament promise in light of the new …

The Lord your God is in you, a victorious warrior. He exults within you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice within you with shouts of joy. (My paraphrase)

However, because we inflate the value of our feelings, we think, “OK. Christ is in me – the Bible tells me sobut I’m not feeling it. So we try (and fail) to hear his voice in the clamor of our fickle emotions and busy lives. I can testify, this road has many unnecessary ups and downs and some very un-scenic turnouts.

Perhaps we have not known his presence within simply because we were not taught that we could or we were not taught how. Perhaps the full import of having a new heart has not been realized because we have not learned to be quiet long enough to encounter him. Perhaps the place of our tryst frightens us because of its unfamiliar stillness and quiet. Yet, we are told, that is where we shall come to know him …

Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)

Perhaps if we made peace with the quiet, we would experience the promise …

Indeed, I will give you renown and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the Lord. (from Zephaniah 3:20)

The Blue Book has served thousands of Christians by inviting them to slow down and discover their God who lives within them. Those who develop this habit ultimately find it was Christ himself they longed for and that he resides within them. The process of coming to know our God is an experiential mystery, a blessed one, which awaits all persevering saints. Our simple calling is to …

Watch over our hearts with all diligence for from them flow all the issues of our lives. (from Proverbs 3:24)

May God succeed in his ambushes and may we succeed in our perserverance. Amen.

 

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