When the devil reminds you of your past, remind him of his future. ~ Unknown Now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul. ~ from Jeremiah 32 Oh beloved, it is true. Wave upon wave of our feelings and experience want to reach out and take our joy. We see the times and seasons of our failures and think they are evidence of of our lack of progress. The freedom we find seems to want to fence us in, as each next step down the road He has for us, is often fraught with peril and unexpected turbulence.
And the voice of the accuser hammers us; screaming out about the laws we have broken. He bases his accusations on something that is true, but is (as usual) not the truth. But even so, we listen to this condemnation and are tempted to take it as our own.
But G_d.
As He speaks to us, in His Word – and through His Spirit, we hear an utterly different Voice. A Voice reminding us who we now are in Him.
We cry, “Father, i am such a failure.”
And He says, “Look behind you child.”
We turn and look. And gasp. The distance from our past is something exceedingly bigger than for which simple time would account. We are looking back at a house in order, and the landscape around that house coming together quite nicely.
We say, “How did this happen?”
“You allowed me to do it child.”
“It’s gorgeous Papa.”
He says, “I always do good work son. I never fail. Nothing is too hard for Me.”
“But…”
“Yes beloved.”
“Why do i feel so wretched sometimes Father? i fail you. i fail the people around me. It seems like i am getting nowhere sometimes.”
“You are dying child, and it hurts. You are undergoing the suffering of a saint. With each failure and misstep along the path I have set before you, you become more and more disillusioned with yourself and your own abilities to do anything. This is an astoundingly difficult and painful thing for a person to learn. And in this death, though, is the only path to Life. I AM your Life now.”
“But i am letting you down too. Aren’t you disappointed?”
“HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAA!!!! Oh son, that’s a good one! But, the answer is short: No, I AM not disappointed in you! Further, your Brother has already paid for all of these failures and now We are joyfully going about the work of destroying your capability of doing or being anything that is not like Us. We are crushing your capacity for failure – through the failures themselves. We are making you just like Us, and We already know exactly what you will look like on the Day that the work is completed. We are already there, waiting for the perfect you that will be.”
“But…”
And He says, “Oh, that other voice?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t listen. Actually, tell it to go away. The voice is a lie. The voice is doomed to hell, and only wants to make mischief. I allow it for My own purposes, and to give you free choice to either listen to the truth or to its opposite.”
“We find you lovely.
We see you as perfect.
We know your heart, as We have already given you a new one.
We are your strength, so you will not run out.
We are utterly confident in your path.
We Love you, for Love is Who We Are.
We promise none of this will ever end.”
“Really Dad?”
“Yes child. Just rest.”
“Thanks so much. Oh how i love Thee!”
“I have always Loved you. I always will. I AM always with you. I will never forsake you. Fear not child. Never be dismayed by the work along the leading edge of the path of your life.”
Are you hurting tonight beloved? Let Him wash it away. He will.
Fountain of life, and all-abounding grace,
Our source, our center, and our dwelling place!
~Madame Jeanne Marie de La Mothe Guyon (1648-1717)
