O lover of the Loveless,

"It is thy will that I should love thee

with heart, soul, mind, strength,

and my neighbor as myself.

But I am not sufficient for these things.

There is by nature no pure love in my soul;

Every affection in me is turned from thee;

I am bound, as slave to lust,

I cannot love thee, lovely as thou art,

until thou dost set me free.

Two Men Contemplating the Moon – Caspar David Friedrich, Image credit to The Met Museum

By grace I am thy freeman and would serve thee,

for I believe thou art my God in Jesus,

and that through him I am redeemed,

and my sins are forgiven.

With this freedom I would always obey thee,

but I cannot walk in liberty,

any more than I could first attain it, of myself.

May the Spirit draw me nearer to thee

and thy ways.

Thou art the end of all means,

for if they lead me not to thee,

I go away empty.

Order all my ways by thy holy word

and make the commandments the joy

of my heart,

that by them I may have happy converse

with thee.

May I grow in thy love and manifest it

to mankind.

Spirit of love, make me like the loving Jesus;

give me his benevolent temper,

his beneficent actions,

that I may shine before men to thy glory.

The more thou doest in love in me and by me,

humble me the more;

keep me meek, lowly,

and always ready to give thee honour."

- Excerpt from The Valley of Vision

The Two-Edged Sword

God’s mercy would not be meaningful without God’s justice. Sin cannot go unpunished forever. And even our failures can be used to accomplish God’s ultimate plan. Moses predicts the following:

[63] And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. [64] And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.” — Deuteronomy 28:63-64

Sure enough, Jerusalem is destroyed by Nebuchadrezzar, and Jeremiah reflects back on it in his Lamentations:

"The Destruction of Jerusalem" — David Roberts, Public Domain Image

“The LORD hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn of thine adversaries.” — Lamentations 2:17

We are so used to the meek and lowly Jesus that we forget the High and Mighty Jehovah God. Our adversary the devil seeks to destroy, but he is only a created being. When justice is meted out he does not give Satan an ounce of credit.

“Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?” — Amos 3:6

“Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?” — Lamentations 3:37-38

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword (Hebrews 4:12). A two-edged sword cuts both ways. His judgement cuts to the heart and exposes us for who we are, but his mercy binds us up and makes us live forever to his praise.

Photo by Jonathan Kemper on Unsplash

Selah.

But One Thing is Needful

“As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.” - Song of Solomon 2:3-4

“Now it came to pass, as they went that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” – Luke 10:42

Johnannes Vermeeer: Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, public domain image

Luke 8:2 tells us that at one time Mary Magdalene had seven devils cast out of her by Jesus. The gospel accounts do not tell us she had a husband or children, wasn’t a hospitable homemaker like her sister, not the fairest virgin daughter of Israel, but nevertheless it’s Mary that gets to fulfill this scripture from Song of Solomon later on when she breaks a box of ointment over Jesus ahead of his arrest:

“While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof (SOS 1:12).”

The gospels tell us that Jesus loved both Mary and Martha, and Martha surely believed that Jesus is the Messiah as we see elsewhere in the gospels. But Jesus tells us in Luke chapter 7 that the one who has been forgiven of much, tends to love much more than the one who has the smaller debt forgiven. I think that was true of Mary and true of me.

Selah.