For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling, and you said, “No! We will flee upon horses”; therefore you shall flee away; and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”; therefore your pursuers shall be swift. A thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill… Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore He exalts Himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him. For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as He hears it, He answers you. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide Himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a Word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” When you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”
~ from Isaiah 30
Oh beloved, it is true. We – those who have cast our hope on Jesus – have come into a situation that was completely unexpected at the beginning of our relationship with Him. We are, to put it bluntly, free. There is now nothing for us to do to add to – or subtract from – the substance of the relationship we now have with Him. For the relationship is based on the unfailing, unchanging, and astounding Love of the One who initiated the relationship in the first place.
And even in our profound failures, the very G_d of the universe has been slain for us from the foundations of the earth. He Himself has bought Life for us through His death. And this purchase was not just to revive us, or save us from destruction. The payment was also good for our entry into His family. And the purchase He made was not a credit put onto our account – such that we should have to pay it back. No, we have been adopted. And just as we would never expect a helpless baby we adopt into our earthly families to provide remuneration, this same G_d has no illusions that we could (or should) pay Him back.
And yet, this is where we often miss the depth of His Love. We sense how much He cares for us, and everything in us wants to walk in the Love He has for us. We even begin, in the power of His Spirit, to Love Him back. It is as though we are learning to dance with the moves He initiates. And we even begin to sense – and respond to – the subtle moves and steps He is leading us through… And then we fail…
Something we say,
or do,
or believe,
or think,
or fail to do,
falls desperately short of the new and glorious relationship we have been brought into with Him. And in the failing, there comes over us a ghastly sense of our own unrighteousness, and our utter inability to keep up with the dance steps He is teaching us. All of this is good, up to a point, but there is another failure ahead of us if we keep going.
The recognition of our failures is wonderful. But, what we do with the recognition is very important. So, may this fool of a writer preach for a moment?
When we fail, the sorrow we feel must be the kind of sorrow we would have over an embarrassing moment with a lover. It should be the kind of sorrow that makes us throw our hands up in the air and laugh at our own foolishness as we dash towards the person we have hurt and express our affectionate dismay at the goof we have made. And we should have within us the expectation that our foolishness will be met with the same laugh of Love; the kind of Love which says: I have already forgiven you my dear friend. It is already done. Can we get back to dancing now?
And for us to go any further than this, is but to continue in our failure – and to set us up to go even deeper into the problem we are creating. If we, even for one moment, begin to beat ourselves up over the failure, we are in grave danger. For now, we have not just transgressed against our Lover, we are now moving into grieving His Spirit.
So, when we start to beat ourselves up about our own failings, what we are really saying is that what He has done for us, is not really good enough. We are saying that we must add to what He has done. We are saying that we will ascend to Him by making ourselves good like Him. And in beginning down a path like this in our thinking, we expose the root of all our sin – pride.
Tonight is your (and my) night beloved. It is time for us to rest in the Great Love He has for us. It is time for us to believe we are forgiven, and enjoy the laughter while we trippingly dance in His arms. Just dance, and let Him teach you (and me) the steps dear one. He is a very good Teacher, and knows exactly how to make you perfect in the process.
