Rose from the Brier

God is faithful. So last fall, when He started moving me past my status quo habits, He was faithful to replace them with worthy habits. And in the winter, when He convicted me to give up all internet video for a season, He faithfully sustained me to keep that commitment. And then in January, still failing to draw the parallels, I made a first-of-the-year resolution: to make God preeminent in my affections, above all other attractions, so that, loving Him with a whole, pure heart, the things of this earth might grow strangely dim.

And in less than two months, God has faithfully drawn me closer. Two funerals in two weeks of January brought sorrow, but Ecclesiastes 7:2-4 sums up just exactly what they meant to my heart: “Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by a sad countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.”

My reputation was falsely challenged, but so was the idol in my heart; I cherished a good name above my God. Yet the Lord of the universe “…made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:7).”

A harbored dream, the hope that Mama was finally getting healthy again, acceptance, and my plans for the year: all of these have come to naught in the last two months.

Do you conclude I have had a terrible time of it? Do not think so, for because of these circumstances, I have sought God’s face like never before, and He has been faithful. He wakes me up in the morning with a song in my head with which to praise Him and a joy unspeakable to greet the day. As my heart strays, He reminds me, once again, of His presence, and calls me to worship. While housecleaning, I sit down, mortified by my longing for those old idols, and then comforted by His grace. Late at night, while doing computer work, I must go to my knees, because His presence is there with me, and I weep in awe.

God has called me this year to give up my costume jewelry in exchange for His treasue, to say each and every day with Amy Carmichael, “My Lord, my Love, I am content with Thee.”

Thou hast not that, My child, but thou hast Me,
And am not I alone enough for thee?
I know it all, know how thy heart was set
Upon this joy which has not been given yet.

And well I know how through the wistful days
Thou walkest all the dear familiar ways,
As unregarded as a breath of air,
But there in love and longing, always there.

I know it all; but from thy brier shall blow
A rose for others.  If it were not so
I would have told thee.  Come, then, say to Me:
My Lord, my Love, I am content with Thee.

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Photograph Credit: nicolas_gent. Used by permission under the Creative Commons License.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.