A Walk Through the Heart! - - - - - - - - - GMG Wk:5, Tuesday - - Proverbs 3 (esp. vs. 5-6)

Does the word 'detour' sound good to you when you are heading home, and you can hardly wait to get there?

I remember through the years, when my children were very young, when each of them, in turn, would wonder why we couldn't just go straight home, or straight to Grandma's and Grandpa's....... or - etc.  At those moments, I always brought up my father's chuckles about the phrase, 'as the crow flies.'  I never really had a sense that my children appreciated the term.... since they couldn't simply go 'as the crow flies....'

That simple little phrase has given rise to many a moment imagining finally taking off and going somewhere 'as the crow flies.'  Today, I still love to imagine levitating out of the car and heading out - 'as the crow flies,' looking down at all of the roofs and trees, and children bicycling, and cars moving along - but not keeping up with me!

Ode to innocent desires........ a longing to go home yes, and a longing to seek adventure along the way......, but sometimes we realize we really want a straight path home - as the crow flies, as it were.

........

Yesterday, the Good Morning Girls' study 'You Are Loved' brought us to Psalm 84, where we saw that

--Godly men long to finally arrive 'home' in His courts.....

&

--the highway to Zion, which takes us home to His dwelling place, runs through our hearts!

So often, it seems that there are many detours along the way!  But is that true?  Let's check out this relatively well known verse:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.  (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Does He mean that the paths, or highways in our hearts, those highways that will take us home, will be made straight!?!

Well, let's look at the first couple of verses in the same chapter:

"My son, do not forget my teaching,
But let your heart keep my commandments;
For length of days and years of life
And peace they will add to you."  (Proverbs 3:1)

Okay, backtracking to my younger years again...... when those around me would debate, 'length of days and years of life and pace'....... and what that meant...., the conclusions seemed to come to this:  That this is true of the general principles of life and living......, though in some instances, in our imperfect world, tragedies thwart the natural consequences of godly living.  Though statistically speaking, I'm not on the last leg of my journey (and Lord willing I ?am/not?), I have finally come to the point in my life when I don't think of 'length of days and years of life' in terms of this life.......

Rather, those things are things I look forward to in the hereafter......  and I can hardly wait!

Really, think about it, how long are the 'length of days and years of life' in eternity?  Forever long!

And how does one hope to obtain such length of days and years of life?

Well, the *heart*, where the highways to Zion run, needs to not only remember, but follow His commndments.

Yes, I can hear the antinomians at it already:  But the law is behind us! It is no more!

True, but Jesus, after His crucifixion, just before returning to His Father in heaven, commanded the disciples to .......Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them...., (and) teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

While the 'commandments' of Jesus and/or the New Testament do not mirror each other in form......., they are still to be remembered........

There are statements made that those who persevere and/or endure receive the prize.....

There is the parable of the sower, in which some receive the seed, but not into their hearts....... their endurance is lacking........

But the endurance, is endurance in love........ without condemning others..........

...........


Here, in Proverbs 3, vs. 13, one is encouraged to read, "How blessed is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding...."

But more, in vs. 26, it says, "For the Lord will be your confidence......"

And yet more, in vs. 35, it says, "The wise will inherit honor......"

............

In order to find wisdom; in order for our confidence to be established in Him; in order that we will be wise and thus inherit honor.......... we begin simply:

"Do not let kindness and truth leave you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart....."  (Proverbs 3:3)

And there it is, having to do with the heart again.......

If we are faithful to 'write kindness and truth.... on the tablet of your heart'......

then........ how does that help?

Are kindness and truth not the signposts to help us remain on the straight path through the heart, that straight path which leads to Zion!?

,,,,,,,,,,thus, as kindness and truth are written on the signposts of our heart......

......He makes all of our paths straight...........

.............

He loves us enough to provide us the wisdom that leads us to kindness and truth, which in turn leads us to His dwelling place.......

Truly, His signpost work is truth.........

Truly, sharing His truth........... is kind...........

..............

May we be more like Him.............

Let kindness and truth never leave us.............

Let us love............. as He loved............. and as He stil loves.................

Let us be able to say to others, not only with our words, but with our actions, "You are truly loved!"

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The Source of Grace & Glory!...... Wk:5 Monday, Psalms 84, esp. vs. 11-12

So the post I haven't finished for last week (just one for last week)...... has to do with the EXULTATION!!! - - - that remains after victory........

............

But what comes next........ you know....... when the battles are all finished, and the victory is finally sealed with peace...... peace from grace (for there is no peace without grace......, which is important to remember when the people cry out, "Peace, Peace......" but there is no peace......)?

Oh, what comes next is the best part:  Going Home!

How many warriors, following their king wherever He leads them, are willing to follow Him anywhere......

But....... how many warriors, still long for home.........


And that is how it is for those of us who follow The Mighty Warrior - - - the King of Kings - - - !!!!!


Do we not also long for home, even though we have not yet seen our true home....... even though we still bivouac........ yes, bivouac............  in these temporary tents of ours........ ?

But where is that home?????

"How lovely are Your dwelling places,
O Lord of hosts!
My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
The bird also has found a house,
And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,
Even Your altars, O Lord of hosts,
My King and my God.
How blessed are those who dwell in Your house!
They are ever praising You!"  (Psalm 84: 1-7)

So many people long for a lovely dwelling place...... a safe retreat from the world.......

And is that all wrong?

Absolutely not!

God made us with a yearning for peace, beauty, comfort, a safe place....... a place we can call Home!

But we must remember that the yearning He put in our hearts cannot be fully satisfied by anyone, or anything or any place on earth........

So while we may be home, or long for home as we know it - or merely dream of it....... is there no place we can call 'home' for the spirit of our new life here in this world????

Looking back to the psalm again....

Here we see that the swallow, in her nest, lays her young......where?  'His' altars! And finding themselves at home there, they know they are so very blessed........ so they are ever praising Him!  Singing His glorious praise..... accompanied by the rhythm of the trees clapping their hand....... what a glorious altar..../!!

Without His altars, both the altars which are their homes, and the altar which Jeshua haMashiach made effective?...... even the birds could not hope of finding escape from the struggles and corruption of this world...!!

But because of The Mighty Warrior's work on the cross...... fulfilling the work at the altar necessary to provide blood for the mercy seat????....... even those of us who brought this corruption into this world.... can find themselves 'at home at His altars.........'

O, sing His glorious praise!

Yes, we still long for the fullness of all that Home means to us....... we still yearn for more than the comfort of the shadow of 'home' that our childhood and/or dreams of a better life could ever offer........  we still yearn for more than the comfort of the shadow of the cross........

We still yearn for His dwelling place........ Home!

But like Dorothy with her ruby slippers, we have the way Home already with us.......

"How blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
In whose heart are the highways to Zion!
Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring;
The early rain also covers it with blessings.
They go from strength to strength,
Every one of them appears before God in Zion."  (Psalm 84:5-7)

Did you catch that?  What is more powerful than Dorothy's ruby slippers?

The highways to Zion, yes, Zion! ........ where His dwelling place is being prepared for us!

And where are those highways?  They are in our heart!

Those highways move through valleys empowered by life-giving rains, which refresh both living things and the springs that refresh them!

And those of us who have these highways in our hearts?

We have our strength in Him!  How securely will He guard that strength for us?

So securely that we will go from strength to strength!

And one day, we will all have the strength to go Home to His dwelling place......

O my soul!  What an incredible love He has for us!

...........

So, yes, it is a fine thing to rest at His altar... to rest in the shadow of the cross......
To sense the highways in our hearts........ to sense the refreshing rain there......
And the strength that comes thereby.......
But perhaps most of all......... it is a fine thing to think of finally arriving in His dwelling places......

.......

But.............

.......

Today, my flesh is sometimes weak........ and the darkness of this world looms ominously towards us....... and sometimes it even seems that I'm alone........ and His dwelling place seems so very far away....... and perhaps sometimes, it feels that it may as well not even exist..........

But at those times........ the Lord gives us something amazing!

"O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
Give ear, O God of Jacob!
Behold our shield, O God,
And look upon the face of Your anointed.
For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside.
I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God
Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
The Lord gives grace and glory;
No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
O Lord of hosts,
How blessed is the man who trusts in You!"  (Psalm 84:8-12)

What amazing thing does the Lord give us?

Yes, He has given us the Light of Life!
Yes, He is a shield and buckler for us!
Yes, He lends us His ear!
Yes, He seeks *our* face!
Yes, He dwells in this tent with us, that we do not need to dwell in the tent of the wicked!
Yes, He gives every good thing.......

BUT THERE IS MORE!!!!!

What can be more than that?

He gives.............

Grace and Glory!

Glory!

Glory for us!?!

Glory be to God!

O, my soul praise Him!

For how blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

Yes, my soul, you are..... so, so, so loved!