"The Pristine and the Exquisite"

     God always acts in accordance with the standards that coincide with His character and nature.

    "As for God, His way is perfect… God is love" ( I John 4:8; II Samuel 22:31).

   In eternally perfect harmony, God's being and power unite to do always that which is best, and that which reflects who and what He is.  Nothing less than pristine and exquisite perfection suffices regarding our Lord's way and the heart that motivates the doings of His way.  In such wondrous light, we must surmise that God always does the only thing He can do.  He does not have options that lie before Him such as we experience.  His infinite knowledge rather presents a complete view of reality to His mind.  His character leads Him to perform the best possible action in relationship to His knowledge.  And His wisdom and power enable Him to act in accordance with the aforementioned "pristine and exquisite perfection" that fulfills His holy and ineffable standard.

    Writing the previous paragraph stilled my heart, bowed my head, and will lead me to my knees after I finish this essay.  Our God is a wonder.  Indeed, somebody - Somebody - exists in such perfect holiness that He cannot be other than who He is.  He cannot act in any manner other than the pristine and the exquisite.  We may not always understand the perfection of His doings.  But we can always be sure that what He does correlates with the only path of behavior that lies before Him.  For us, this means pleasant and unpleasant experience as our Heavenly Father administers both necessary aspects of life in our present state and condition.  "Thou hast been my help.  Therefore, in the shadow of Thy wings, I will rejoice… Thou hast afflicted me with all Thy waves" (Psalm 63:7; 88:7).  Love, particularly perfect love, meets needs before it fulfills desires.  This is often hard truth and reality in the moment.  Utimately, however, we look back and realize the wonder of our God that He acted in the only way He could, and thus, in that which was best.  

    We may not and will not understand many of our Lord's "Whys?"  We can always, however, be sure of His "wise."  His way is perfect, based upon pristine and exquisite character, nature, knowledge, and ability.  We trust Him accordingly, in both the pleasant and the unpleasant administrations necessary to the glory of Christ, and our eternal well being.  Let us indeed kneel before Him as we realize and affirm His heart, His mind, and His way…

"Now unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever."

(I Timothy 1:17)

Weekly Memory Verse

   For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commented.

(II Corinthians 10:18)