The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"I Wish I Knew"
I hope she knows.
I refer to our beagle Ellie and the happiness she brings to our lives. Not long before I began writing this, she drew near and rested upon me in what felt like complete trust and gladness to be close. This seems to be a blessing and comfort to her. It is surely that to me in a measure for which I have no words, and which causes me to think of another nearness and the joy it brings.
"The Lord taketh pleasure in His people" (Psalm 149:4).
"The prayer of the upright is His delight" (Proverbs 15:8).
"Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you" (James 4:8).
I wish I knew. That is, I wish I had a better understanding and awareness of the wonder that we bear capacity to please the heart of God. It is a heart so worthy of being pleased, having been undeserving of the wound it still bears from the spear long ago plunged into it to assure it had died for us (John 19:34; 20:27). Indeed, how can a human race whose sins made necessary such grief in the Lord Jesus Christ be the same company that bears potential to bless His heart with such "pleasure" and "delight?" I have long been convinced that no truth compares in motivating genuine response to our Lord than realizing the response of His heart to us when we come close in love, faith, devotion, and the realization that "in Thy presence is fullness of joy. At Thy right hand, there are pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:11).
"When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek" (Psalm 27:8)
I wish she knew. But she can't. Ellie cannot begin to know what it means to me that she loves and trusts me. Of course, of infinitely greater measure and significance, we cannot know what it means to God when His grace redeems us through Christ to make possible our love and trust in Him. The contemplation always takes my breath away. But then it leads me to use my breath in praise, thanksgiving, and the determination to bless the Heart that so blesses mine. How can it be that we possess such potential and opportunity? We will never know. But we can believe, we can respond, and we can follow Ellie's example by drawing near to bless the One so worthy of our rapt devotion and attention.
"Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more."
(I Thessalonians 4:1)
Weekly Memory Verse
"Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven."
(Proverbs 23:5)
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