Tag: Reunion

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Feeling the presence of God.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Turn us again to yourself, O God of Heaven’s Armies. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved. You brought us from Egypt like a grapevine; you drove away the pagan nations and transplanted us into your land. You cleared the ground for us, and we took root and filled the land. Our shade covered the mountains; our branches covered the mighty cedars. We spread our branches west to the Mediterranean Sea; our shoots spread east to the Euphrates River. But now, why have you broken down our walls so that all who pass by may steal our fruit? The wild boar from the forest devours it, and the wild animals feed on it. ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭80‬:‭7‬-‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This idea of God raising up a grapevine, nurturing it, watching over it and giving it a place to thrive and flourish is a popular theme in the Bible. I just wrote about Isaiah (chapter 5) giving an object lesson about the vine and the vineyard. The Psalmist writes about it while Israel is in Babylonian captivity. It goes along with another familiar phrase, “the root of Jesse,” which expresses the promise of a messianic king who would be born of David’s family. God is responsible to keep and protect this root of His vine!

Jesus even refers to Himself being the vine root and speaks of the fruit of that vine in John 15. And, Paul picks up the theme in Romans 15. Then finally, Jesus refers to himself as the root of Jesse in Revelation 22. This overarching picture of God following through with his promise even though Israel (and us as well) have consistently been unfaithful and failing to keep our promises in obedience to God’s Word. God is faithful to fulfill His promise and from that “root” He will raise up a whole new generation of children. These are the children of promise through the faithfulness, not of themselves, but of Christ alone.

In the verses following in this Psalm we hear the desperate plea for God not to give up on His people. “Come back, we beg you, O God of Heaven’s Armies. Look down from heaven and see our plight. Take care of this grapevine that you yourself have planted, this son you have raised for yourself.” (vs 14-15). I get the feeling that people generally know when they are close to the Lord or far off from Him. I know for me, when I have wandered or just been careless with my love and attentiveness to His presence, I definitely knew it. I felt similar to the Psalmist. I wanted to be close again and hear God’s voice, feel the Holy Spirit working in my life. I would never want to get used to being far from Him. I would never want to be so far from God that I no longer felt His face shining down on me. Jesus is the vine; we are the branches. Those who remain in him, and he in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Jesus we can do nothing (John 15:5).

Prayer

Dad,
I clearly see that you have done everything to keep us (keep me) close to you. You faithfully and consistently come after us, wooing us, forgiving us and loving us. My part is to stay close to you, connected to you. The most difficult part is not even my sin, which separates me from your presence. It’s the shame and embarrassment of continuing to return, constantly coming back in confession and repentance. It’s trusting that you forgive me and receive me once again. It’s the not giving up, not drifting too far – that’s the hard part. Your word promises that you are faithful and JUST to forgive me and clean me when I come to you. I never want to be without your presence. I never want heaven to be silent because of my unfaithfulness to you! Amen.

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A diplomat of hope

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭17‬-‭20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

As humans we have the unfortunate gift of breaking things, especially when it comes to relationships. We hold a grudge, drift away or decide to be bored with friendships that are hard or seemingly unfulfilling. The Apostle Paul’s admonition on this topic of relationship, begins with the massive change that Christ has made in a person’s life. ANYONE, everyone, who belongs to Christ, who is in a relationship with Jesus has been made new.

Congratulations, you have a brand new lease on life! The old life is gone. Good riddance. And although this new life is completely a gift from God, reuniting and restoring a right relationship with Him, it is just the beginning of a brand new purpose. It’s kind of a side gig for every believer. Paul tells us that once we’ve been restored, we now have a new job, the responsibility to carry the message of reunion to others. To deliver hope to those who do not know that Christ has forgiven them and wants to restore them as well. This whole idea that Paul calls all who have been restored, to be Christ’s diplomat!

We are spokespersons to the point that we get to herald the message of hope to others – “as though God makes His appeal through us,” Paul writes. What’s our message? What am I supposed to do or say? It’s an odd campaign when you think about it. Paul says, just start telling folks to COME BACK! Come back to God! This is where it gets a little complicated to figure out on our end. It’s a deep, spiritual message reminding us that God has been speaking, shouting, wooing and whispering to every single human – “I Am here, I see you – come home.” Through circumstances and individuals, signs and reminders everywhere. God has planted eternity into every heart and it beckons to them. When we come along, as one of Christ’s ambassadors, we are simply picking up a very long and consistent message that God has been speaking to them since they were born – “come back to God.” People can try to drown out that voice, that message, they can run from it. They can build defensive walls of anger, lust, power, wealth or pain, but God still speaks to their soul, “come back home.”

Where is home? Home is that safe place of recognizing who God is, that place of forgiveness, and that place of rest and peace, wholeness and best of all HOPE. Who knows how people will respond when we just give the message. Some will rant and rage, blame and deny. Some may take it out on us! Just tell them, “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger, I’m just doing my job.” It’s good to remember Paul’s words, “we speak for Christ when we plead.” Whoa.

No wonder it’s not really that complicated to disciple others. Especially if we can remember that God has done all the work, that God is actively getting their attention – all the time! Our simple restorative message to “come back to God,” makes it a whole lot easier. If you are reading this and feel far from God, then take this message to heart – “come back,” He’s waiting.

Prayer

Dad,
I knew you were there. And when I really understood you were calling me back to you, I got it. Help me to SEE those who are ready to hear these words to come back. Give me the boldness to do my job and be your ambassador of hope.