"And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart."
~ Jeremiah 29:13 (NKJV)
Seal my love upon Your heart;
Seal my arms around You.
Love is as overpowering as death.
Passion is as unyielding as the grave.
Its flashes are arrows of fire—
The very flame of YAH.
~ Song of Solomon 8:6 (author paraphrase, based on GNB & GW)
"And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace."
~ Jeremiah 29:7 (NKJV)
Jeremiah 29:13 is my life verse (note the large letters at bottom of page). I don't remember a time when I didn't relentlessly seek spiritual truth. The Lord had to utterly exhaust me of searching for it in wrong places before He revealed Himself to me. My eyes were opened to Him in 1985. My life was surrendered to Him in 1988. Relentless search for truth became relentless pursuit of God.
I'm a fanatic for learning names of God. Of the hundreds I've collected, my very favorite is Yah. It is an intimate name (perhaps even a nickname), used fifty times in Hebrew Scripture. It is most familiar in the phrase, "Hallelu Yah" (Greek "Alleluia"), which literally means "give clear and shining praise to Yah." Bible authors generally use Yah in contexts of up close or very personal encounters with YHWH's power. The first appearance of "Yah" in Scripture is when the Israelites danced and sang praise after being delivered through the parting of the Red Sea.
The consequences of relentless pursuit of God is discovering the consuming love of Yah, as many contemporary praise songs attest. Such consuming love can make us yearn for heaven a little too much, to the point of losing peace over being earth's captive.
Though we yearn for heaven, we must also remain firmly engaged in bringing God's peace to this place of captivity—for therein we also find peace.
Oh Yah, how You confront me today! Please give strength for the pursuit and to withstand the flames without shrinking back. Please enable us to praise You with unbridled passion as we engage ourselves in kingdom work on earth. Please lead in paths of peace.
Your feedback is appreciated. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
WOnderful. I will never say Hallelujah in the same way again, it means so much more now.
ReplyDeleteOT: Have you read the Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers? I was blessed by reading it this weekend. I'd be curious to know what you thought of it. And most important; I lifted your family and esp. brother before the Lord today in church. I wanted to pass that on.
So beautiful, bless you.
ReplyDeleteTwo of my favorite words when thinking of God--unbridled passion--thanks for using those exact words!
ReplyDelete~ Wendy
Denise, I do pray God will bless you and your health.
ReplyDeleteWendy, I look forward to heaven when that unbridled passion will never again wane.
T. Anne, I can't even write it as Hallelujah (or Alleluia) anymore. I simply must draw out the Hallelu Yah.
And yes, I did read most of the Francine River series, though it's been quite some time ago. She did a nice job, but the novellas were too short for me. I prefer biblical fiction that delves into the story and the people a bit more.
Anne,
ReplyDeleteThis post touches me in an intensely deep and personal way. In January, I was in a head-on collision on an icy Iowa highway. Moments before the crash, I was saying the letters:
Y ... H ... V ... H.
I was in awe over the fact that I could say his name, sing his name, shout his name in praise.
That's when the accident occurred.
Long story short: I ended up with a Y-shaped scar on my leg, and I just know, that I know, that I know, that the scar is the imprint of YHVH's initial.
I have a big 'Y' on my leg. I hope the scar never, ever fades.
I've written about it some at my blog, and have an update coming in a day or two, so I'll repost a photo of the scar ... ;-) I never thought I'd be so happy to be scarred.
Blessings, and thank you for sharing your words today.
Jennifer, I'm so blessed by your words. My praise for the name of YHWH / YHVH is without limit!
ReplyDeleteCan I share one of the most awesome aspects of this name?
Y (yad) means "hand"
H (he) means "behold"
W/V (vav) means "nail / fastener"
H (he) means "behold"
YHWH, when said aloud as "yad he vav he," means, "behold hand, behold nail."