Sometimes, We Just Don't Understand...

One Another

Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out. —Proverbs 20:5
..dwell with [your wife] with understanding -1 Peter 3:7

ODB reflects: "This principle works both ways. Husbands want to be understood as well. Actually, we all do. Everyone, married or not, longs to be understood by others at the deepest possible level. We’re born with that need, and we never seem to outgrow it.

It’s feeble avoidance to say we can’t understand one another. We can and we must. It takes time—time spent in one another’s presence asking questions, listening intently, then asking again. It’s as simple and as difficult as that. No one, of course, can fully plumb the mystery of another person’s heart, but we can learn something new every day."

I am thankful for every day that I get to 'ask questions, listen intently and ask again about my love. It is so beautiful and wonderful to learn about his heart, every new day. And it is one of the blessings that has made this 27th year so beautiful for me. Lord, help me to draw this understanding out of the more difficult sources as well.

God's "Law"

¹¹ Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues
God will speak to this people,

¹² to whom he said,
"This is the resting place, let the weary rest";
and, "This is the place of repose"—
but they would not listen.

¹³ So then, the word of the LORD to them will become:
Do and do, do and do,
rule on rule, rule on rule;
a little here, a little there—
so that they will go and fall backward,
be injured and snared and captured. -Isaiah 28:11-13

Oh, will we ever learn? God's law in the beginning wasn't a law of rules and what to do, but we fell backward. God said that it was a resting place, a place of repose, but we saw it as rules. I am much too much like this. Yesterday I admitted I'm a Martha, and my friend Andrew called me out on it last night. It's true... discipline for all its helpful qualities causes these types of problems: following rules, set schedules, not taking advantage of a beautiful birthday breakfast for two because it would interfere with running and devotions and everything. I only hope that I can change, Lord. Help me to know Your resting place... and to deeply understand that Yours is not a law of rules or of doing but of love and grace... and rest.

A Heavenly View of Things

¹⁵All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. ¹⁶Only let us live up to what we have already attained.-Phillipians 3:15-16

This verse speaks of a heavenly view... searching for the prize of heaven. Sometimes I appreciate this acknowledgment in the Bible. While we try to understand, we should also humbly come before the Lord our God, knowing that we cannot understand everything, but also being confident that someday God will make it clear to us. What a beautiful promise! That's surely a reason to look forward to heaven! To understand all these mysteries and concepts that are just so difficult for me now. Help me to be content with where I have attained, where I am in my walk... but always continuing to walk closer with thee, my Lord- closer and closer in this next year.