The Love of a Child

Matthew 19:14; Mark 10:14; Luke 18:16

Three times, this story of the children is recorded in the Gospels. Many stories are recorded by one or two authors, but it is much less frequent that three of the four contain the same story. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all chose to include this illustration of the tender heart of Jesus towards the children. Of course we know that the Bible is divinely inspired and GOD is the one who opts to include what he wants in his Word. But truly, the writers were deeply touched by the adoration Jesus had for the little people. And really – what did they have to offer him amongst the great throngs of followers?

I have always liked the kiddos. I enjoyed running a church bus route in years past, teaching a variety of Sunday school and children’s church aged classes, teaching kindergarten in a Christian school, and working in a daycare. I love to strike up a conversation with a 5-year-old about matters far above and beyond their understanding. There is nothing like the perception of elementary-aged children and younger. Such entertainment! But though I have always enjoyed the little guys, a deep, burning love and affection for them escaped my own understanding – until I carried and bore my own children. Something inside of me changed the moment the doctor laid Kent on my chest! The emotions ran wildly as he lay there, covered in a white, filmy coating of goobers, experimenting with his incredibly powerful lungs for the first time! I lack the know-how to explain what I felt at that very moment. It might help to mention that I was sobbing uncontrollably and I could not explain why. Even now.

I wondered if I would have the same feelings for my second child when she was born. Although I think I had a better handle on the blubbering, the moment my little Rella was handed to me, my heart overflowed with love! I didn’t know I had any left to give – I already had one VERY BUSY little toddler who filled my heart. How could my love expand to cover two? But somehow, it grew. And I actually think it continues to grow.

This topic came to my mind a few mornings ago. I have my children conditioned to sleep at least an hour or two past my alarm. If any of you know me well, you do not need an explanation as to my need for an hour or two of peace and quiet in the mornings! My typical morning routine is a very prompt teeth cleaning immediately following the conclusion of the alarm, a quick potty break, and then a somewhat blurry, staggered, incoherent walk to the coffee pot. I’m trying to change up this routine a little with the weather change to include a shoe lacing and a 30-minute run each day before the coffee break. At any rate, at this point I find my club chair next to the fireplace, pet the cat and open the blinds for her to see the birds, and then proceed to spend time with the Lord. Some time during my time in prayer, one or both of my children usually find me sitting in my chair, and we exchange greetings.

On this particular morning a few days ago, I was sitting in my chair by the fireplace (without a fire – thank goodness – I’m ready for warm weather) when I heard a thud in the room above me, a rustling of stuff (the kids always greet me with an armload of pets), and then a slow plop, plop, plop down the stairs. I knew these footsteps to be Arielle’s. Sure enough, she snuck around the corner with a sly grin. I pretend not to notice for a second, and then I inhale a pretend gasp of excitement to see her, and she proceeds to plunge forward, pets in hand, and land ever so tomboyish into my lap. My Rella is a fiercely loving little thing. She gives me much more trouble than her brother does, but she is the one who never fails to say, “I love you, Mommy” for no particular reason in the world, or spontaneously throws her arms around me for a bear hug that just won’t quit. So this morning, she curls up in my lap as I cradle her tightly. Ahhhhhh…the sheer joy of holding my child in my arms. How refreshing to hear her say, “I love you, Mommy.” It warms the very cockles of my heart to know that she desires to be cuddling there in my lap, spending time with me, and drinking in my love for her.

I was suddenly struck with the awareness that God is the perfect parent. He is the infallible Father. The love of his heart is faultless, selfless, and it knows no boundaries. The depth of my love for my daughter has no comparison to his love for us! Now, this is no new fact. It is not as if I have not read or heard preached this very topic in times past. But it was an applicable revelation – a reminder that I needed at that very moment. My time with the Lord in the morning (as well as the meditation throughout the day) is to him what my children’s morning routine of climbing up into my lap for a little lovin’ is to me! He loves me. He loves to spend time with me. He loves it when I choose to climb into his lap and adore him, appreciate him, yearn for his Word, talk to him, meditate on him, obey him, and trust in him! He is a holy and righteous God to be feared and revered, to be sure. But he is also a God of overwhelming love for his children, and he desires to be loved in return. He is our Creator and our Savior. We not only owe him our love, He commands it.

And Jesus answered him…
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. Mark 12:20

A Broken Heart

II Samuel 11, 12

In these two chapters, we find the man after God's own heart in the midst of the gross sins of lust, adultery, and finally murder. How had this gentle, loving shepherd and harpist come full circle and stooped to such a low level in his life? After this harmless man endured years of fleeing hateful enemies without cause and yet continuing to walk wisely in all his ways, he now was guilty of what most consider to be the worst deed a man can perform. And yet, he apparently thought he would escape the law of the harvest. Perhaps his role as king gave him a sense of being above the law. Maybe he figured he had suffered so much in his life as a citizen that now that the tides were turned and he finally had his promised position as the head honcho, he could do as he pleased without fear of repercussion or retribution. And then maybe he was just so wrapped up in the sinful moment that he failed to think or consider the cost at all.

At any rate, King David is an adulterous murderer with a child on the way. Then Preacher Nathan paid him a visit. He shared a gripping story about a poor man and his family's adored pet, a little lamb. Little BaaBaa, who was so cherished that the family allowed the little guy to eat from their very table. Then along came Neighbor Wealthy, who demands little BaaBaa be offered up for his elite guests - when Mr. Wealthy had an entire flock of the fluffy white guys of his own! But as we all know, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, and the poor, destitute family with the single lamb had the greener pasture as sheep go. Mr. Wealthy took their lamb and served him for dinner.

Of course, David, the gentle shepherd who spent the first portion of his life tending his father's sheep, protecting them, and loving them, was LIVID with this pompous rich man! How dare he steal from the poor when he had the best sheep available in his own pasture?

David demanded that the man restore four-fold to the family and also that his life be taken for payment! It is amazing to me that the prophet Nathan had the wisdom to find an angle that would touch David's heart right where it needed to be touched. Wisdom like that must come from God himself.

But once David's proclamation was made, Nathan pointed a finger at David, as only a preacher can do, and stated, "THOU ART THE MAN." I can imagine that David was half out of his seat, if not pacing the floor, in anger as he fumed over the wicked selfishness of the rich man. But the moment the words of the preacher escaped his mouth, David's heart must have smote him to the ground. He had seethed with anger over the story Nathan shared with him and suddenly he is faced with the reality that HE was indeed that very man he was only moments ago ready to slay.

All of us have at one time in our lives tried to push some sin to the back of our mind or tried to explain it away as "not as bad as all that." No doubt David had taken this approach with this terrible sin of his. He was living in denial. But suddenly he has come face-to-face with his actions. It is very easy to avoid the truth, blame shift, or point an accusing finger when we are about to experience the rod of correction. But David immediately recognized his sin for being just that - SIN! His words to the preacher were "I have sinned against the Lord!"

After David was confronted with his sin and admitted his guilt, he was of a broken and a contrite spirit! Psalm 51 is the psalm David wrote following his meeting with Nathan that day. There are 19 verses dedicated in this chapter to his guilt and the sorrow he experienced for his sin. We would do well to read this chapter as preventive maintenance. If we understood the magnitude of this chapter and the repercussions of our sin, we would find ourselves spending more time asking God to purge us even of those hidden sins and to create in us a clean heart and less time in sin!

You know, another thing I find intriguing about David’s Psalm is that he states that God is not interested in sacrifice and offerings. Not when a heart isn’t in the right place. He says in Psalm 51:16 and 17 – “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” In this day and age of frantic, hectic, busy comings and goings, we find ourselves in the midst of extreme service to God. We teach Sunday School, we go Soulwinning, we sing in the choir, we clean the toilets, we volunteer for this and we plan for that, but we fail to have that broken and contrite heart before God! We lack that close communion with him that reminds us daily of God’s desire for our lives and just how he wants us to live day-by-day. David said, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit!” Are we broken? Truly broken? Scripturally broken? Do we hunger and thirst after righteousness? Does our heart meditate on the Lord day and night? Do we love God’s law? Are we searching the inmost parts for that hidden sin? Or do we bury our heads in the service of God instead? You may feel you are pleasing to him, but Psalm 51 clearly states quite the contrary.

“Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.” God loves sacrifice. But only when it comes from the right kind of heart – a broken and a contrite one. One that faces and DEALS with sin. Yes, a just man falleth seven times, but he rises up again. He struggles with his Christian walk. But he asks the Lord to show him hidden sin. When it is revealed, he asks God to purge him – whether it is once or seven times.

On another note, we look at David’s sin and think, “My word! How can God call him a man after his own heart after this? How can God give him any benefits of a child of God after this wretched act?” Well, David did reap some very heavy ramifications as a result. He lost the child that Bathsheba was carrying at the time of this ordeal. Later he had utter chaos between his children and lost several of them. He restored four-fold just as he had demanded of Mr Wealthy. But because of his repentance, God spared his own life. That in and of itself was an amazing act of mercy. But look at II Samuel 12:24 – David had another son with Bathsheba, the very woman he committed adultery with and murdered for. This child’s name was Solomon. Notice what the Bible says about this baby, “And the Lord loved him!”

We all know the rest of the story. Solomon grew up to be the next king of Israel, the second of the seed of David. He was the wisest man ever to walk the face of the earth. God poured out his blessings upon Solomon. Solomon walked with God for many years. This child was a result of a hideous, unsightly, even unmentionable sin. And yet God was merciful because of David’s broken heart over his sin. And not only was Solomon one of the greatest kings and the wisest man, he was in the direct line of Christ! Jesus was born to the seed of David and Solomon was the son of that seed. He was the result of a lustful relationship. What a loving, kind, merciful God we have!! When we come before him and lay it all out in the open and say, “God – I BLEW IT! I have sinned,” He will take our sin and do a 180 with it. He can be glorified through our wrongs. There is no sin too great that he will not forgive it. There is no sinner too far gone that he cannot be used greatly of God. But…you must have a Psalm 51 heart.

The Love Letter Creation

.the.intro.
For many weeks, I have been contemplating blogging thoughts from God's Word as I spend time with him each day. I don't think I will be able to keep up with a daily entry, but I am aiming for a weekly post. If you become a "follower" of my blog, of course, you'll know if the miraculous takes place and I enter more often than weekly.

a.well.known.fact.and.the.painful.truth
When God creates a pastor's wife, he automatically instills in them the ability to speak. It’s a well-known fact, right? Every pastor's wife I have ever known can stand before her ladies and give an eloquent oration on God’s goodness and love. There may be different levels of expertise in this field as well as variety in style, anxiety, and preferred topic; nevertheless, they have the gift of presenting a flowing, reasonably smooth verbal presentation.

I surrendered to full time ministry of some kind at the age of 12. I was an introvert. Certainly God would call me to a foreign country where I would speak to the women of the jungles of Africa. I thought perhaps I could fulfill that calling. I majored in Speech and English in college. I thought perhaps through education and graded experience, the moment would come for me. I adored the drama in speech class. Memorizing and dramatizing was a walk in the park for me. I’d always loved performing in school and church plays. And English was a cinch. But compiling a bunch of jumbled thoughts and presenting a speech to a small group of peers and a professor was an entirely different thang altogether.

Well, since the original calling at age 12 didn’t ensure “art of speaking” as a qualification on my resume, and my college days came and went and still the gift did not come, certainly God planned to instill extraordinary talent in my makeup when the calling became a reality. I have been a pastor’s wife for over 2 years now. I have spoken at small church ladies’ meetings, baby showers, and other more well-attended events. I STILL lack a gifted speaking ability. I have forced myself to speak at our monthly ladies’ meetings for the past year in hopes that practice would make perfect. That method has failed me. I was certain that the spirit would come upon me and loosen my tongue as he had done with Zachariah, John the Baptist’s father. In vain, I tried. I pleaded with God for his wisdom, strength, and moving in this lacking area of my life. But the response was painful silence.

A few weeks ago after making another failed attempt at speaking for our ladies’ meeting, I came home depressed and distraught. “What’s wrong with me, Lord?” I wondered. “How can this be - pastor’s wife who cannot speak to her ladies? What kind of pastor’s wife am I?”

a.welcome.revelation.
It suddenly dawned on me that I was putting myself into the proverbial pastor’s wife box and I could not accept God’s unique design for me as an individual – the individual HE created ME to be. My heavy heart was suddenly a feather weight! The Lord whispered to me that night almost as clear as day that it was okay if I could not give an inspirational devotion to my ladies if that’s the kind of creature he created me to be! Isaiah 29:16b says, “…for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?” And then Isaiah 64:8 says, “But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.” He designed us to be the very person he wants us to be for the time and place he created us for. How much more peaceful our lives are when we come to this understanding and submit to the Potter our will and personal expectations.

Now, it is certainly most unfortunate (albeit painfully evident) for the ladies of WOBC that I am not a good public speaker and I will probably never be able to design and present an earth shattering devotion from God’s Word. Some of you WOBC ladies may be wondering what we are going to do about the monthly ladies’ meeting devotions. Never fear. While I cannot speak, I do have creative genes and I have something up my sleeve which will be unveiled when the timing is right. And while I have no desire to pain you with another failed attempt at opening my mouth with public dialogue, I love writing. I believe the Lord has given me a blog as a replacement tool with which to share my heart with my ladies in this much more desirable fashion! You can come and go at your own will, you can choose to read or not to read, and the intellect of a written transcript rather than a verbal oration from me, the out of the ordinary pastor’s wife, will have much more appeal to the recipient.

.conclusion.of.the.matter
Ladies, God designs each of his vessels with his own loving hand. There is no assembly line hovering over a conveyer belt or a scientist testing machines with input and output materials, corking out humans as quickly as possible. It wasn’t happenstance that threw us into our family, our city, state, or country, or even our situation in life. It wasn’t a mistake that you were born short or tall, skinny or fat, blonde or brunette, organized or spontaneous, sanguine or melancholy. “I am fearfully and wonderfully made!!!” What a wonderful assurance from God’s Word!! While we should “die daily” to our flesh, we should ask God for the wisdom that we lack, ask the Lord to search us for hidden sin, and strive daily for the mastery, we must accept who we are.

Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

a.small.disclaimer.
Now, while I do not do well in a large crowd setting, a one-on-one heart-to-heart is my specialty. Lest I give the impression that I am not approachable or have not the desire to be a help and encouragement to you in your time of need, I am a phone call away. It does my heart a world of good to be there for the hurting, the questioning, the joyful and blessed, and everyone else in between!