13 March 2013 - womb for improvement

13 March 2013 - womb for improvement

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”
Can a mother forget her infant,
be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget,
I will never forget you.

The LORD's love for us transcends even the best example of selfless and altruistic love we have.  How can we do anything but rejoice?

Sing out, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth,
break forth into song, you mountains.

Yet we are reluctant to rejoice.  We break into song but not wholeheartedly.  Such love is almost unfathomable.  There is a broken part of us that can't deal with it.  On some level we usually have a sense of not deserving love so great.  And because of that we have a hard time believing it can exist at all.  We know we are imperfect.  We know we suffer.  Doesn't that mean there must at least be some conditions on any love God might have for us?  No!  The LORD is moved by compassion for our suffering.  This is not how he wants it to be.

For the LORD comforts his people
and shows mercy to his afflicted.

He empowers us to break free from the bondage in which we find ourselves. It is his word which gives us the power.

Saying to the prisoners: Come out!
To those in darkness: Show yourselves!

And empowered his word we step out into the light.  Note that the step is ours to take.  His words bring the power of eternal life into our lives even now.  Eternal life cannot be chained by sin.  Sickness cannot hold it back.  Let us move into the radiance of that light.

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word
and believes in the one who sent me
has eternal life and will not come to condemnation,
but has passed from death to life.

If we have life now through his word then when he calls us at the end of time we will rise to eternal life.  Any vestiges of sin, sickness, and death will be broken by the power of that same  life-giving word, finally perfectly heard.  LORD, give us ears to hear!  

Let us take courage as we run the race.  The LORD will permit no obstacle to overwhelm us.

The LORD is faithful in all his words
and holy in all his works.
The LORD lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.

His word is truth but it is not abstract.  What he ultimately tells us is who he is, how much he loves us, and what that should mean for us.  His word is more true than any mere scientific law.  It is the truth about the one who made those laws.  It is the truth that his love for us is without limit.  That truth alone can inspire us to stake everything on his promise.  It is only that truth which can bring us to see that his love for us is greater than that of a mother for her baby.

The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.