Prickly Agitations
Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.
- 2 Samuel 23:5 (KJV)
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For does not my house stand so with God? For he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure. For will he not cause to prosper all my help and my desire?
- 2 Samuel 23:5 (ESV)
“First, let me say to you, my brethren, it is necessary that you should have an "although" in your lot, because if you had not, you know what you would do; you would build a very downy nest on earth, and there you would lie down in sleep; so God puts a thorn in your nest in order that you may sing. It is said by the old writers, that the nightingale never sang so sweetly as when she sat among thorns, since say they, the thorns prick her breast, and remind her of her song. So it may be with you. Ye, like the larks, would sleep in your nest did not some trouble pass by and affright you; then you stretch your wings, and carolling the matin song, rise to greet the sun. Trials are sent to wean you from the world. Your soul without trouble would be as the sea if it were without tide or motion; it would become foul and obnoxious. As Coleridge describes the sea after a wondrous calm, so would the soul breed contagion and death.”
“But furthermore, recollect this—that prayer can remove thy troubles. Faith is as omnipotent as God himself, for it moves the arm which leads the stars along. Have you prayed long…without a result? and have ye said, "I will cease to pray, for the more I wrestle, the worse they seem to grow, and the more am I tried?" Oh! say not so, thou weary watcher. Though the promise tarrieth, it will come. Still sow the seed; and when thou sowest it, drop a tear with each grain thou puttest into the earth. Oh, steep thy seeds in the tears of anxiety, and they cannot rot under the clods, if they have been baptized in so vivifying a mixture.”
- The New Park Street Pulpit: Vol I No. 19 - “David’s Dying Song” (pg. 143)
O, beloved. How timid you are! Oh, how you desire comfort! How you’re so very prone to tears!
Aye, indeed.
Hey now. There, there.
All will be well, some Day. Take courage.
These abrasions, they are painful, yes. But, they provoke us towards want, do then not? With lack, comes need. And need comes a desire. And whom can satisfy our desires? Jesus Christ, crucified.
These disturbances lead us back to Him, our Beloved. And so, we are to be grateful for them, each and every one of them. We should name them, take note of them, and offer them back to Him as thank-offerings, yes?
And, because you’re tender, feeble, fragile, delicate…you’ll cry, beloved. It’s okay. These tears will not be wasted. We weep, because we long to be in the presence of our King. We long for all things to be made right.
Hark, ye! Jesus says our sorrow will be turned into joy, beloved! (John 16:20) Joy!
Should we be surprised? We marvel at how such a small seed can grow to become a sapling, and inexorably a magnificent, towering oak tree. And yet it’s something we can see with our very eyes! Albeit slowly. So very slowly. (pondering) And so, let us have Great-Faith, beloved, that our tears can be transformed into joy!
Therefore, beloved, let us welcome these disruptions, as we know they are instigated by our loving God.
All is well.