All You have made will praise you, O LORD; Your saints will extol You. They will tell of the glory of Your kingdom and speak of Your might, so that all men may know of Your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of Your kingdom. Psalm 145:10-12.
Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Mark 10:21.
If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there Your hand will guide me, and Your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night – but even in darkness I cannot hide from You. To You the night shines as bright as day. Psalm 139:9-12.
And continuing our 351 Old Testament prophecies, promises of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, we come to number 157: The Seed of David (the fruit of His Body). Psalm 132:11: The LORD has sworn to David a truth from which He will not turn back: “Of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne.” And, Luke 1:32; Acts 2:30: He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the LORD God will give Him the throne of His father David. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne.
I thought about the second Scripture verse above as I thought about that rich young man. It said in verse 17: As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus was setting out – and this man ran to Him. And Jesus told him go – and then – come and follow Him. Isn’t that true for each of us who have heard about and loved what we have heard about God? That God is love and loves us. And God who loves is wondrous and we run toward Him. When I was a child I loved God and wanted to go live with Him right then right now. But I needed to go – through every year and experience and learning to see so much more, because there is so much more to understand. There is an intimacy we fear will change us. I keep thinking about our taking up our own cross and what that means. To love Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, is to love not just Him but also His children dearly loved; and to realize just how intimately and closely we are loved by Him. We think God’s love is soft and we are so wrong. I think of the words “soft on crime” and realize it is God’s blazing love that helps us see just how wrong are all the crimes and sins we commit. His love is so powerful that to take up our own cross is to follow Him in the way of His love which is love for Him and for His children, to love and care for them is to love and care for Him. To love God is intimate and close and knowing without fear bound in oneness of trust with Him. That young man wasn’t ready for that encounter yet and neither are we yet without His help. To love is a process we learn with God patiently working with us. Our world is a training ground for the hardest thing we will ever do – and is our proving ground of taking up our own cross and following God who loves to the good of all of us. That love is powerful! How are we doing? The shared prayer below spoke so deeply to what I am trying to understand daily – so I can come and know Him who loves and follow Him.
***LEAD ME TO CALVARY – King of my life, I crown Thee now; Thine shall the glory be. Lest I forget Thy thorn-crowned brow, lead me to Calvary. Show me the tomb where Thou wast laid, tenderly mourned and wept; angels in robes of light arrayed guarded Thee whilst Thou slept. Let me like Mary, through the gloom, come with a gift to Thee; show me now the empty tomb; lead me to Calvary. May I be willing, LORD, to bear daily my cross for Thee; even Thy cup of grief to share – Thou hast borne all for me. Lest I forget Gethsemane, lest I forget Thy agony, lest I forget Thy love for me, lead me to Calvary. Jennie Evelyn Hussey, “Lead Me to Calvary,” 1921.***
