"His Heart"
Without discounting the wonder of our Lord's infinite mind and the ways of His hand, the Scriptures call us to emphasize the character, nature, and disposition of His heart.
"Who art Thou, Lord?" (Acts 9:5).
Upon encountering the risen Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, Saul of Tarsus asked precisely the right question in response. The answer ultimately birthed a new man to whom we refer as the Apostle Paul, and who penned a significant portion of the New Testament. Paul became a believer who was utterly enraptured by the "Who?" of God. In the most doctrinal and theological portions of his writing, the Apostle's emphasis on the Divine heart nevertheless shines through. He knew the necessity of understanding and of discovering God's ways in history and in our personal lives. He knew even more that regarding the true knowledge of the Lord, the heart of the matter always involves the matter of the heart, God's heart and our own.
We do well to embrace the emphasis of our brother of old. We must gather many facts about the ways and workings of God in our reading and study of Scripture. Lest our pondering become merely academic, however, we must catch ourselves when necessary to ensure that we maintain the priority to which the Bible calls us. "Who art Thou, Lord?" God invites us into His heart through the Lord Jesus. Wonders await us there more thrilling and fulfilling than any other reality can begin to offer. Glimpses of love as revealed in truth, righteousness, grace, holiness, mercy, purity, peace, power, humility, joy, and stunningly pristine perfection of character and nature - all meet us as we prayerfully seek God in His Word and along the pathways of this life of faith. Our hearts were made for such ardent and adoring devotion, based upon the wonder of His ardent and adoring devotion to us.
T'was said of old that our hearts
find no rest save in Thee.
Still the truth unfolds through
the passing years,
as it will eternally.
Thou art good beyond all notion,
no heart can find emotion
to feel what it should as it looks
upon the Face
of Thy shoreless ocean, of truth and of grace.
Into Thy heart You call us
that wonders may enthrall us,
that we may see
even more than angels see
of Thy great goodness.
And so forever's scenes await
as we pass beyond Thy gates.
Who art Thou, Lord?
We ask again and again in faith.
He answers forevermore.
"One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple."
(Psalm 27:4)
"I will declare Thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of Thy great goodness, and shall sing of Thy righteousness. The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works. All Thy works shall praise Thee, O LORD; and Thy saints shall bless Thee."
(Psalm 145:6-10)
Weekly Memory Verse (one of the first Bible verses I ever memorized)
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.
(I Peter 1:22)
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