by RobertCummins | Aug 7, 2013 | 32. Intimacy
Psalm 139
As a brand new Christian in 1976, it truly seemed like something magical had exploded in my heart. I felt as though I was the frog who had become a prince. As it turned out I had but that wasn’t the half of it. I was that guilty and condemned criminal bound over for execution only to find someone else had paid my debt and enabled me to walk out of my chains as a free man. If that weren’t enough, to my amazement, it was the Judge who paid that capital expense for my debt. Neither was I released to just wander the streets. The Judge Himself had adopted me . I was an orphan who had become a son of the Most High God. The Judge had become MY Father! I started my Christian experience with a huge “YES” in my heart. “To whatever You say God, my answer will be ‘YES’!” (at least I aspired that it would be.)
A place that I frequently noticed this “yes” response was when I read the Bible. Prior to 1976, this book had been intimidating and incomprehensible. Now, when I read scripture, I noticed my heart would respond with a “yes”. Even though I did not grasp everything intellectually, I agreed; “Yes this is true; yes this is life; yes this is the way.” Psalm 139 was the first passage of scripture that really grabbed me. I memorized it because of the strange and powerful “YES” I experienced when I first read it. This psalm breaks down the overarching theme of intimacy into many specific realities. I will never regret that these realities were initially imprinted onto my heart 37 years ago. Time and experience has only reinforced them. They have served me well (particularly in times when I could not see a thing) as reference points to the invisible kingdom of which I had become a citizen.
Here are some of the things I internalized and adopted as benchmarks from Psalm 139;
1) I exist because He was intentional in my creation. In other words; I was no accident.
2) I will exist on this earth for the time He has allotted for me.
3) The job He did in creating me was awe-inspiringly wonderful.
4) Everything I do or say is known in perfect detail (even in advance).
5) He is always searching and working in my heart.
6) The thoughts I have about Him will be numerous and precious in value.
7) But as wonderful as those thoughts are, they are far to frail (bracketed by my mortality) to fully grasp the scope of who He is (in HIs immortality) and all that He oversees (in eternity).
8) Even if I tried, I could not escape His notice and His care.
9) Even if things go dark on me, things are always well lit with God
After I read this passage and considered its import I wanted to respond in kind with David, “Search me O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful ways in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.” In other words, “Please Father, don’t let anything interfere with this “yes” in my heart!”
One of the many amazing things about God is that His memory is not faulty but it is selective. Once we repent of our sin, He forgets them. Its not a malfunction. Its His choice. My point in saying this is that a new chapter of our stories; “our journeys into intimacy” can begin afresh each new day. While they may be troubling to us, our pasts are of no account to Him. Where we have been most traumatized by life, Christ desires that those specific places become our springboards into intimacy (not the millstones about our necks as we are apt to make them). As far as it concerns us, no greater opportunity exists to manifest His glory in this earth, than for us to permit Him to transform our sorrow into joy right in the face of our enemies and in the face of a creation that intuitively longs to see redemption. It is His will in heaven that where evil has abounded, grace shall abound all the more.
If the word “intimacy” throws us and we don’t have a clue what its about, all that is needed is a real conversation with God (prayer). No one who has ever come to Christ with their honest heart questions has been turned away. (Some, I believe, who have posed their bitterness and unbelief as questions have been.) When the human heart turns toward God (instead of away) Christ is receiving some of the reward of His suffering. (“If I be lifted up, men shall be drawn unto Me.”) It is in this engagement that we discover His faithfulness and we taste and see that He is so good. The yes’s (and the no’s) of our heart will be greatly influenced in this awaiting conversation.
Father, that You daily offer us the privilege to live as sons and daughters in Your holy presence; persons who were once unclean, hopelessly lost, enslaved and condemned, is something we pray that will never be lost on us. Create and sustain that “yes” within us. Search out those things in our hearts that would dull our perception of eternal reality. And like David, we pray that You would be exceedingly rough on our enemies – those whose mission it is to blunt our awareness of Your intimate presence. Receive the reward of Your suffering in us Lord – our enjoyment of the intimate connection You have reestablished between us and the Father. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Aug 6, 2013 | 32. Intimacy
Song of Songs 7:10-13
“I am my beloved’s and his desire is for me.” If you have read this book you know that it is clearly about the intimacy between a king and a common girl who has become his obsession and the sole object of his affection. He chooses her and showers her with his attention, with thoughtful gifts and tender words. While these initiatives would be worth emulating in the marriage relationship, I believe the inclusion of the Song of Songs into the scriptures was not just as a manuel for intimacy between man and woman. I believe it is there because the Spirit, who loves to reveal God’s nature, was saying something about God’s love for us.
There are many different types of love. Each type of legitimate love came from God, who is Love. There is familial love; fraternal love, and there is the love expressed sexually between a man and his mate. The Spirit elects sexual love to depict something about God’s love in this book but I don’t believe it is the sensual dimension of sexual love; rather its the dimensions of passion and intensity of this king’s love that is the point. I believe that even though it is imperfect, the intimacy of marital love is simply the closest thing (though still very weak), in our available human points of reference for God to refer us to as a starting point in understanding the powerfully intense nature of God’s love for us.
He doesn’t just tolerate us and endure our depraved fallen natures. In Christ, He has buried that aspect of us and raised us up with new natures (His own) that are no longer in bondage to sin, condemned and rejected by God. He no longer sees in us the defilement of sin. He sees Christ and His righteousness. We may sin still but that sin is not proof that we are still ruled by a depraved lower nature and rejected by God. It is simply proof that we still have the power to choose which is essential to us so that we can respond to the love of God.
Within Christianity, so many believe the best and most important response to God’s sacrificial love is the living out of a holy and obedient life (as we have envisioned them). I will not argue that holiness and obedience (as God envisions them) are not an essential part of the normal Christian life. I will argue though that in and of itself, just the setting of the will to achieve a standard (regardless of its height) is counterproductive and will not produce intimacy. It will produce something that may have the appearance of righteousness but it will be performance oriented and fail to result in the intimacy that can only be received as a precious gift. (which I believe is is integral to God’s type of righteousness).
How do we partake of this gift? How do we shake this sense of being a tolerated step-child who never quite measures up? What is due from us in this relationship so that we can partake of and enjoy this intimacy? We simply live by faith. We daily practice our response to the unseen reality of God’s infinite love and compassion for us. We train our selves to live gratefully regarding His acceptance of us and his celebration over us. We keep at it day in and day out always deferring to ourselves as “His beloved“. Life will become abundant for us when we grasp that the deepest and truest thing about us is not that we are fallen; rather that we are His. Gratitude is natural for the common one who has been enjoined to Royalty. We simply live presumptuously in regard to His favorable disposition toward us. This is the root of all true abundance.
Father, may You bring into full view of all creation, the redemption of the sons of God – those whose identities, as Your children, have been and are being restored in the context of their intimate union with You. May You awaken us to Your invitations to come away with You and personally hear Your kind words, receive Your special gifts and enjoy Your undivided attention. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Aug 6, 2013 | 32. Intimacy
Isaiah 62
In this passage, the God of recompense and reward (vs 11) is revealing things about His nature and His ways through the foretelling of His servant Isaiah. His reward will amount to a reversal of fortunes for Zion and Israel, the nation and even her real estate (vs 4). The language is very strong. The Lord is swearing; He is vowing, by His might and power, to cause this to come to pass. Where Israel viewed her identity as “forsaken” and “desolate”, God wills that she will one day think of herself quite differently.
What will this look like? These are the words Isaiah chose; gloriously beautiful, royal, holy, desirable, an object of praise worthy of God’s own rejoicing. How will this impossible thing come about? Isaiah chose the imagery of marriage to convey the answer. God’s might and strength will be displayed in the context of “intimacy” (His recompense and reward to His chosen people). The sons of Zion will be wed to their land and the people rejoined to their God. Consequently, she will be a marvel and a crown of glory unto God Himself.
What could possibly be our application from this account of Israel’s ancient history and this prophecy of her future? There is another behind-the-scene variable in the “how” and the “why” of Israel’s transformation. There are a group of people referred to as “watchmen” who would not be quiet nor would their souls find peace until glorious Zion is seen in this earth. God has yoked Himself with these people whom He has appointed to remind Him. Since we know God’s memory is fine and that He needs no reminding, it seems reasonable that his motive is, at least in part, to include men in this process of restoring His people’s identity and destiny.
As a road contractor, I appreciate Isaiah’s,
Build up the highways, remove the stones, lift up a standard over the people.
I believe a watchman may be the equivalent to an “inspector” on a highway project. The standards have created a vision in the mind of the watchful inspector and he knows what that project is supposed to look like when it is finished. He understands the processes required to accomplish it and he does not give himself (nor anyone else) rest until it is finished according the “standards”. I believe between now and the time when the Church and Zion are fully glorified we will see more watchmen appear.
Isaiah was a watchman for Zion. Who are the watchman, the standard bearers today for the kingdom of God? I believe they exist. They are the ones in whose listening hearts God has whispered what He intends His kingdom to look like. Watchmen may appear troubled because what has been built to date does not resemble the standard God revealed to them in His word and by His Spirit.
You may be able to recognize them because they are coloring outside the established lines. With a glorious king and His kingdom in mind, they are rethinking and experimenting with new structures and concepts that, to them, more closely resemble the processes they observe in the scripture. The hard questions they ask and the radical proposals they consider are warranted (at least in their view) because the ones they have walked in or observed are not moving toward what they would think of as kingdom standards.
Not all legitimate watchmen are standing on the wailing wall in Jerusalem crying for the restoration of Zion and Jerusalem. Some are weeping and making petition for the restoration of the Church (Christ’s living community and family) and are not giving God (or others) much rest until this community resembles the glorified Bride of Christ referred to in Scripture, who may in turn ultimately serve in the fulfillment of Isaiah’s ancient prophecy.
Paul, was an apostle but he was certainly a watchman too. If this has stirred you at all you should read Romans 11. This is Paul’s heart, that…
I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen (Israel) and save some of them.
In the grand eschatological scheme of things I anticipate that God will utilize a glorified church to awaken Israel (by way of jealousy) to God’s loving heart toward them.
Father raise up those watchmen who are holding up your standard, clinging to the vision You have of Your Bride and Your kingdom. Raise up those who hunger and thirst for kingdom realities. May the children of Zion awaken to Your call as they see the beauty, the power and the glory progressively revealed in Your Body. May we discover new levels of intimacy with You and may we see many being drawn into the kingdom. Amen.
