Relentless Love

Various love stories share the common premise of a person who must duplicate previous expressions of affection, day after day. The person who is object of devotion cannot remember prior attachment, whether the storyline involves a physical disorder or fantasy. Happy endings usually bring a day of transformation when relationship is recognized, love is reciprocated, and the pattern is finally broken.

My tears spring easily during any touching scene in even children's cartoons—(call me "Waterworks"). But the theme of a relentless love which endures in one heart and cannot be remembered by another moves me most deeply of all. These poignant tales stay with me for days, with an accompanying lump in my throat.

Such a story crossed my path two days ago. And for the first time, I see a spiritual parallel.

Our God often duplicates a particular expression of His affection and deliverance because we do not remember previous incidents of love and redemption. It's not that we forget, as above, but that we fail to remember. We're as helpless as characters who cannot remember. Whether The Fall altered memory bank brain cells or mortality weakens them, we have limited recall of the past.

A repeating pattern occurs throughout the books of Judges and Kings: deliverance, praise and prosperity, forgetfulness and backsliding, idolatry and lost prosperity, oppression and suffering, remembrance and repentance, cry for help and deliverance. When the people got stuck in forgetfulness and unrepentance, the Lord stepped in with horrific punishment followed by 70 years of exile, and the pattern was finally broken.

Perhaps Christians do not forget as badly, fall so far, and suffer such extreme discipline. But we tend to get stuck in ruts and routines which dampen affection, little or much. Circumstance can lure us into negative thought patterns which bring despair. Lies can be repeated often enough that we fail to remember Truth.

If we think we cannot wait another day or hour or minute for our circumstances to change, perhaps we need only call to mind past deliverance and be assured that our Deliver is standing by, waiting for the right moment to step in. If adversity brings us a taste of death, I think it is because we fail to remember the life in us.

When brokenness overwhelms, we need only recall past healing to find hope for the moment.

Regardless of whether our memory clicks in instantly or after duplicate expressions of affection, we can be sure that our God is showing His deep love, day after day, always waiting for us to remember past deliverance, recognize depth of relationship, and reciprocate relentless love.

~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~

I am now a biweekly contributor to Everyday Testimony, where a few words of fresh thanks are daily given to God from a variety of His people. My prayer there today, of gratitude for recent deliverance, coincides with this post.

Comments, questions, and respectful disagreement are welcome. Reply to BuildingHisBody.com comments, or e-mail buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.

After the Broken

This post is part of a blog carnival hosted by Peter Pollock.
You're invited to visit his site and see what others are saying
about today's theme: Broken.

"... this is My body which is broken for you ..."
~ 1 Corinthians 11:24 (NKJV)

Perhaps, when we are broken, and think it not possible to endure our pain, we forget the utter brokenness of our precious Jesus.

His majesty was broken down when He stepped into flesh and became a Man.

His reputation was broken when His mother became pregnant out of wedlock and He was reckoned a bastard.

His ties to home were broken when He became homeless for the sake of the hopeless.

His heart was broken when His people rejected His message.

His will was broken at Gethsemane when He laid it down before the Father's will.

His flesh was broken with unconscionable abuse that we might be healed.

He was broken by death that we might have life.

Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
~ Romans 6:4 (NKJV)

Perhaps, after we've been broken and have died to what we thought necessary, we will remember that death must precede resurrection and newness of life.

The LORD builds up ...
He gathers together ...
He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds.
~ Psalms 147:2-3 (NKJV)

Our Father, You are the Potter, we are the clay. Have Your way with us. Melt us, mold us, fill us, use us. Break us as pleases You. Let us fall into Your hand, for Your mercies are great.

"We are to be broken bread and poured-out wine for the lifting up of [others]."
~ Oswald Chambers

Comments, questions, and respectful disagreement are welcome. Reply to BuildingHisBody.com comments, or e-mail buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Image from the movie Passion of the Christ © 2004 Icon Productions

Holy Beauty Preparation

Today I share what might be seen as a somewhat fanciful perspective of brokenness in contrast with praise and worship.

Praise lifts up hands and voice,
exalts the Lord,
and provides a throne for Him.

Worship bows low,
makes oneself small,
and invites the Lord to bend and show favor.

Brokenness is not a superficial crack or chink. Brokenness thoroughly shatters, releasing sin and pride. It hurts, bringing plentiful tears which make the heart soft and tender. It makes one weak enough to cry out to One with strength.

Brokenness serves as a holy beauty preparation if one chooses to use it that way. It prompts a bride to be perfumed and anointed, to be clothed in finest linen of bright righteousness, and to call out to her Bridegroom with the invitation, "Come, lie in the bosom which has been made soft for You, and find the place of Your rest."

Brokenness invites the Lord to look, and then to display His strength.

"For the eyes of the LORD
run to and fro throughout the whole earth,
to show Himself strong on behalf
of those whose heart is loyal to Him."
~ 2 Chronicles 16:9 (NKJV)

I appreciate hearing from you. Questions are welcome. Reply to BuildingHisBody.com comments or e-mail me—my address is
buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com.
Copyright 2010, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.

Comfort

A prayer of David.
Incline Your ear, O YHWH, and answer me,
For I am afflicted and needy.
Preserve my soul, for I am devoted to You.
You are my God—
Deliver Your servant who trusts in You....
Bring joy to the soul of Your servant,
For to You, O my Lord, I lift up my soul....
You, YHWH, have given me comfort and help.
~ Psalms 86:1-2,4,17 (author)

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life."
~ John 6:63 (NKJV)

Blessed be the ... God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble.
~ 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NKJV)

David faced numerous threats to his life. Yet many times David asked God for deliverance of his soul. Here he cries out in affliction of soul, affirms his devotion to God, and asks to be delivered to a place of joy. David calls upon YHWH as his God, whom he trusts for comfort and help.

We may call upon others for help, according to the role they have in our lives. "You are my husband / wife / pastor / doctor—please ..." Then there are deep places in our soul only God can reach, times when we can only say, "You are my God—set me free and bring me joy!"

There are hurting people in our lives for whom our words profit nothing. But when we ask God to speak through us, we may be able to comfort with the words of the Spirit, the words of life.

Oh God, You are my God, and I shall ever praise You. Thank You for inclining Your ear toward us and hearing our desperate cries. Thank You for the comfort and joy and deliverance from affliction You grant. Thank You for the privilege of being used by You to bring others comfort.

Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.

Earthen Vessel

"The sin offering ... is most holy ... the earthen vessel in which it is boiled shall be broken."
~ Leviticus 6:25,28 (NKJV)

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
~ 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 (NKJV)

If I correctly remember the location, the archeological site of ancient Gibeon's place of sacrifice had thousands of shards of shattered pottery, clearly broken intentionally. They evidence compliance with the requirement that the earthen vessel used to cook the sin offering to be set apart for this single use, and then broken that it might never be used again for a lesser purpose.

The treasure of the Holy Spirit, who gives us the light of the knowledge of God, lives in the earthen vessel of the believer's body. Though made of the planet's dirt, we are set apart to Him, to be used for whatever holy purpose He ordains, and to be broken in the process.

When our hearts break with the realization of the deep pain and great cost our sin has caused our God, we become broken vessels. The light that then filters through the cracks is God Himself.

Most High God who loves us, please help us to understand the depth of Your grief for our sin. Please help us allow our hearts to be broken for sin when we see suffering in the world. Please let us appreciate the pain of brokenness and its purpose in our lives.

Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.

Prayer and Fasting

And when [Jesus] had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast [the demon] out?" So He said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." (Mark 9:28-29 NKJV)

"You fast ... this day, To make your voice heard on high.
Is it a fast that I have chosen,
A day for a man to afflict his soul?
Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush,
And to spread out sackcloth and ashes?
Would you call this a fast,
And an acceptable day to the LORD?
Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To loose the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the heavy burdens,
To let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke?"
(Isaiah 58:4-6 NKJV)

I wept and chastened my soul with fasting.
(Psalms 69:10 NKJV)

The discipline of prayer and fasting is a tragic anomaly in American Christianity. Even when we attempt it, I suspect few of us are able to fully shed our obligations and dedicate ourselves to the kind of fasting the Bible describes—weeping, afflicting ourselves, immersed in prayer. Fasting done well apparently builds fellowship with God and imparts sensitivity to what grieves Him.

I confess that I rarely manage more than what amounts to a 24-hour hunger strike. The flesh may be slightly subdued for a time (a good thing), but the spirit experiences little of the humbling, brokenness, and sorrow that build spiritual muscle and bend the Lord's ear.

The Bible never addresses prayer and fasting as an "if you fast" matter, but always takes it for granted as a "when you fast ..." matter. It is evident that Jesus was quite familiar with fasting. If we are His disciples, we'd do well to imitate Him, despite full schedules and busy lives.

King of the Universe and Eternity, how is it that You call us "friends"? Is it barely possible that You long for the same fellowship, affection and love that we do? Do You indeed seek out hearts with whom You might share Your deepest feelings? Please teach us how to be faithful friends.

Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2008, Anne Lang Bundy

Broken Heart

A Psalm of David.
Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in deep mire, Where there is no standing;
I have come into deep waters,
Where the floods overflow me.
I am weary with my crying;
My throat is dry;
My eyes fail while I wait for my God.
(Psalms 69:1-3 NKJV)

The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as have a contrite spirit.
(Psalms 34:18 NKJV)

[The Lord] may bring us sorrow, but his love for us is sure and strong.
He takes no pleasure in causing us grief or pain.
(Lamentations 3:32-33 GNB)

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16 NKJV)

No child ever understands the parent who inflicts corporal punishment with the words, "this hurts me more than it hurts you." Truth be told, the spirit with which it is appropriate for parents to administer a spanking is when they don't want to inflict pain, because love is in control.

Our children don't think we understand them, though we do know what it's like to be a child. Jesus knows exactly what it is to suffer pain, weakness and temptation as a human. He knows what it feels like to be punished for sin. His heart was broken for sin as no other human heart could be.

We often regret sin outwardly to avoid unwelcome consequences, or mentally to think of ourselves as good, or in apology with guilt for the pain sin causes another. But only the heart truly broken for sin can really repent of it, initiating an end to the pain and death sin causes.

A broken heart is good.

Father, we cause You so much grief, first with our sin, and then when You afflict us for it. Thank You for loving us enough to suffer so much more pain for our sin than we do. Thank You for loving us enough not to allow us to sin comfortably. Thank you for understanding our misery.

Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com.
Copyright 2008, Anne Lang Bundy

Despised God

A Psalm of David When Nathan the Prophet Went to Him,
After He Had Gone in to Bathsheba....
My sin is always before me.
Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight ...
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me....
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.
(Psalms 51:1,10-11,17 NKJV)

Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel: '... you have despised Me ..." (2 Samuel 12:10 NKJV)

Immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord ... So Peter went out and wept bitterly. Now the men who held Jesus mocked Him and beat Him. (Luke 22:60-63 NKJV)

Which hurt the Lord more, the words and blows of His captors or Peter's denial? How did Peter feel when he denied Jesus and then felt the eyes of Jesus upon him? How did David feel when the Lord said, "You have despised Me"?

The musician who drove away King Saul's evil spirit with the music of the Holy Spirit knew well the consequences of despising God: "The Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul." (1 Samuel 16:14 NKJV) When confronted with his sin, David did not attempt to avoid its penalty by justifying himself as Saul did, but immediately repented and sought reconciliation with God.

Both Peter and David understood their breach of relationship with the Lord. Both wept bitterly for their sin. Whatever else its consequences or who is injured by it, sin not only expresses contempt against God, it breaks down precious fellowship with the One who loves us most.

Oh God, you are my God. Please forgive the many ways I fail You. Please let me not shrink back from fully acknowledging my sin, nor from experiencing the pain of the damage to our relationship. Please fill me with Your Spirit and make me love You more—enough to choose You over every alternative.

"Sin would have fewer takers if the consequences were immediate." — Unknown

Feedback may be posted to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mailed to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com.
Copyright 2008, Anne Lang Bundy

God's Favorite Place

Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: "Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering. ... And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. (Exodus 25:1-2,8 NKJV)

For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (2 Corinthians 6:16 NKJV)

Thus says the LORD:
"Heaven is My throne,
And earth is My footstool.
Where is the house that you will build Me?
And where is the place of My rest? ...
On this one will I look [with favor]:
On him who is [desperately] poor and of a contrite [broken] spirit,
And who trembles at My word."
(Isaiah 66:1-2 NKJV, amplified)

Our God desires to dwell close to His people. Ever since God sent Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, He has worked toward again having the sweet fellowship of "walking in the garden in the cool of the day" with us.

The Old Testament tabernacle was designed according to the heavenly sanctuary, and is a picture of the New Testament reality: God's presence dwelling inside the temple of our bodies. "Inside" is definitely close.

How does one draw the favor of the Lord's attention, and experience the filling of the Holy Spirit? By having a humble attitude desperate for God, by being broken for sin, and by hearing His Word with a heart so attentive that it trembles at His voice.

O Lord our God, King of the Universe, how is it that You, whose throne is in heaven, should long to dwell within us? It would be enough to be near You. Please humble us, break us, shake us—and look upon us as Your favorite place to rest.

"I have loved you with an everlasting love." — God

Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com.
Copyright 2008, Anne Lang Bundy

Troubled in Spirit

Jesus ... was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me." Then the disciples looked at one another, perplexed about whom He spoke. Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask who it was of whom He spoke.
(John 13:21-24 NKJV)

Peter said to Him, "Lord ... I will lay down my life for Your sake." Jesus answered him, "Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times." (John 13:37-38 NKJV)

"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth ... and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you."
(John 16:12-14 NKJV)

When troubled in spirit, Jesus shared with it those closest to Him. One by one, they asked, "Is it I, Lord?" Jesus put in His confidence John and Peter. Did Peter fully appreciate being privy to Jesus' secret torment? Or merely feel relief that he was not himself the betrayer, unmindful that he was the denier?

When the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, He is putting us in God's confidence, and sharing with us what makes God troubled in spirit. Do we appreciate the confidence deeply enough to immediately turn from sin? Or presume upon our relationship, unmindful of the pain we cause?

Our Father, Lord Jesus, and Spirit of Truth, we are unworthy of the precious truth You reveal to us, yet You call us Your friends. Please make our hearts tender to Your own heart. Please enable us to be worthy friends, troubled in spirit by what troubles You.

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Copyright 2008, Anne Lang Bundy

Reverent Submission

Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus wept. (John 11:33-35 NKJV)

Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned. ... But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. (Romans 5:12,15 NKJV)

During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect [complete], he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. (Hebrews 5:7-9 NIV)

Why does a good God allow suffering and death? Our good God knows suffering and death will teach us what even Jesus Himself had to learn by reverent submission: obedience. Perfect God was mysteriously incomplete until He Himself became man, suffered and died as we do, and "learned obedience from what he suffered."

The Father deemed it necessary for His own Son to suffer "with loud cries and tears." The free gift of grace now available to us abounds much more because of it. To be made complete and fully know that grace, we must also suffer and show reverent submission.

Lord Jesus, thank You for suffering more than any one of us ever has. Thank You for making the gift of grace abound to many. Thank You for calling us who are among those many, and not among those who will perish in their suffering, apart from You.

Comments are invited! Post here, or e-mail via profile page.
Copyright 2008, Anne Lang Bundy

Does God Care?

Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. ... When the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived and bore a son, and [said] ... "The LORD has looked upon my affliction..." She conceived again and bore a son, and said, "Because the LORD has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also." (Genesis 29:17,31,32-33 ESV)

The things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. (1 Corinthians 1:28-29 NKJV)

Beautiful Rachel won the heart of Jacob. Despised Leah won the heart of the Lord. Leah pined after Jacob, desiring his love, for years—perhaps for her whole life. Yet in the midst of her affliction, she looked to YHWH and somehow understood that this foreign God of Jacob took note of her husband’s hatred and blessed her because of it.

God is often accused of not caring that suffering occurs. But to those who look for Him, His loving concern for suffering is manifest.

Loving Father, Your goodness and love are more abundant than we can comprehend. You can abundantly bless in any situation. Please make our hearts patient and give us strength.

Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. © 2008, Anne Lang Bundy

Wrestling with God

Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, "Let Me go, for the day breaks." But he said, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!" (Genesis 32:24-26 NKJV)

The place where God meets to wrestle is always a defining moment. Before the wrestling is fear and anguish for what lies ahead. Once the wrestling commences it does not end until seen through to the end, until I am broken, until I prevail to obtain the blessing God had in hand as He waited for me to reach the place I could receive it. After each wrestling I am changed, I am able to witness Him move on my behalf — and I cannot help but see more of Who He has been all along. The heavy matter I carried is no longer my burden. It came off my shoulders as I wrestled.

Please give me strength and endurance to wrestle with You until You bless me.

Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2008, Anne Lang Bundy