Tuesday, March 6, 2012

I thought "Thumper" was Bambi's rabbit friend...


Posting is late this week --- what a wild ride this wave is...
But likely, your wave is just as wild as mine -- so it may be days still before you find time to sit and read these scribblings. I pray your wave lands you on a great sunny shore.
The activity has been so intense ----- my mind has had trouble focusing on one vein long enough to process and write. But God surely keeps tying all the activity back into His Word. So here goes.

Last week someone shared with me that a friend of theirs had wondered if i was a "Bible Thumper". And i thought to myself ---- no, i'm certainly not! I don't THUMP my Bible --- i read it. But inside i understood the question --- if we live with God as the centerpiece of our world, we can be viewed as "over the top, on the edge, fanatical". I smiled as i thought this through --- and wondered, what would they have called Jesus?

If a Bible Thumper is a person who stands on street corners and yells at people about God ---- then count me out.
If a Bible Thumper is a person who beats people over the head and bashes their hearts into pieces with judgmental words twisted out of context from God's Word -- then i don't belong to their club.

But if a Bible Thumper is a person that hears a thud as their head bows under the weight of this world and lands soundly in the middle of God's love letter to us over and over and over again ---- then that's a place i can call home.

Am i weird because i've found the ONE, sure, unchanging, safe, solid place to sit, kneel, stand, and rest in? I surely don't trust myself to try and maneuver through this world, and i've found that no matter how wonderful a person is, they can't be completely relied on either. Not because people don't try --- oh goodness, we do try don't we.  But only because no one is perfect. No one can do "life" flawlessly, we are not built to be able to. We need HELP.
We are 100% in need of help ---- 100% of the time.
If you happen to think you don't need help ----- then you've swallowed the lie ---- hook, line, and sinker.
And the creator of the lie is more than happy to devour you after you've fully cooked yourself in the skillet of self.

But for those of us that know how needy we are ----- we find a place of rest in the pages between Genesis and Revelation.

Today, i stood in the grocery store parking lot and talked with a precious friend ---- who has just pulled the "hook" out of her mouth and is breathing again. She was almost devoured, almost destroyed, but in the 11th hour, she grabbed hold of the ONE Savior and screamed "enough" at the madness that threatened to engulf her. It was beautiful, stunningly gorgeous to hear her tell of how the Shepherd had saved her; she knew herself to be His lamb that had been lost. The liar had told her she was unlovable, our Father whispered to her soul ---- "I long for you, you are my daughter, much loved, my precious one..." She's a mother, now standing apart from the father of her children. She has to --- The father of her children is digging a deeper pit. The Father of them all is working to save them all. She glowed when she said, "i've been sober for 15 months, i finally have found peace..." I wondered, surely there's something sweet happening in the spirit realm right at this moment, God went after His lamb and now she stands for Him, with Him, beside Him, under Him. I could feel the goodness of God swirling in air. 
Months ago, she and i had talked at length. She was hurting, she needed help. I listened and prayed -- prayed for her, prayed for God's words to come out of my mouth for her, prayed for God to bring Himself boldly before her --- she felt so scared and alone. Her pain required a God response.

The only words that kept flooding out of my mouth were, "God's Word friend --- you've got to begin by taking in God's Words." I told her it was the one sure place of truth and love and peace and guidance. People can make you feel better ----- but they can not pour LIFE into you. God's Word can do that --- God rides on the words.

Today, my soul sang inside me as she said, "Everyday - everyday, i'm reading my Bible--- i'm in Exodus, and as crazy as it sounds, it's helping me "exit" from the place where i was and walk towards the new place God has for me". She gets it now --- her Bible is God's love letter to her, and she wants to take in what the Lover of her soul is saying to her.

As she talked about God's Word, i was thinking of His Words...
"Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness."  Luke 11:34
Her eyes glowed with life and light --- my heart overflowed with thankfulness!

So --- standing in the parking lot with my friend --- i realized ---- i would be completely lost without the words i find between Genesis 1 and Revelation 22. My soul would starve, and my body would crumble. It's not that i completely understand all those 774,746 words. It's just that they feed me in ways nothing else can.

How sad it is that some people will take God's Holy Word and use it in such a way that people are "turned off". Using God's Word to defeat others, bear down on them, or judge them, oh how it must grieve Yahweh. In the end those abusers will stand before Him...

But for those of us like my friend and i, who lean into it, sit with it, rest on it, love with it, ------ we, we can keep living because of it. We can taste enough of Heaven in it, that we can endure the days we are still here, this side of Heaven. We can believe we have a defender who sees all and will not look away when we run to Him to find that safe place He has for us. 

Bible thumper ---- no ---- that's not me.
God's daughter --- yes. 

The enemy of my Abba struggles against the Word ---- because He knows it is the Sword that can defeat him. 
So i'll cling to that Word --- i'll talk about it --- i'll read it and memorize it and carry it with me everywhere i go --- because it holds the secret between light and dark, life and death.
For March --- my verses are Psalm 15 --- want to join me in memorizing a whole chapter this month? 
It's only 5 verses --- 5 verses you can count on to fill you with truth. Five verses that will remind you, help you, and hold you accountable to the narrow way that leads to a good place of peace.
My daughter and sister are memorizing it with me this month --- come on --- join us.
It's important to remember -- these verses are not talking about Salvation --- when they refer to dwelling in God's sacred tent or living on His holy mountain. These verses are much more applicable to sanctification - walking with God. IF we want to dwell close to Him and live nearer Him --- we will remind ourselves to live in these ways --- and then we will feel Him hold us steady when all the world around us seems shaky and weak. It's a promise ---- from the Holy One.

Psalm 15 

Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
   Who may live on your holy mountain?
 2 The one whose walk is blameless,
   who does what is righteous,
   who speaks the truth from their heart;
3 whose tongue utters no slander,
   who does no wrong to a neighbor,
   and casts no slur on others;
4 who despises a vile person
   but honors those who fear the LORD;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
   and does not change their mind;
5 who lends money to the poor without interest;
   who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. 

   Whoever does these things
   will never be shaken. 

My friend i talked with in the parking lot today ----- is standing on solid ground.
She's moved out of the village in the "valley" and has chosen a place up on the "mountain".
Makes clinging to the Word feel just right.
Clinging to it ---- not thumping it...
Praise GOD!


©2012 Donna Taylor/Reaching for the Robe

1 comment:

  1. wonderful words of LIFE, that's His Word (to quote an old hymn), and this is a wonderful testimony of the power of ingesting those words. i was just thinking before i saw this post and wondering what you are memorizing this month--now i know! good stuff!

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