Yesterday while in church, I watched a mini-sermon unfold a few rows in front of me.
The sermon began when I heard a child's cry from the nursery and watched as a young mom instantly changed her posture from relaxed to alert. Her neck seemed to get a bit longer, her head tilted ever so slightly bringing her ear closer to the noise. It was her baby, and she was ready to rise.
It was a living picture of one of my favorite verses, Isaiah 30:18, The Lord longs to be gracious to you, therefore He will rise up to show you compassion. Each time I hear this verse, I picture God being like me and my friends as young moms at McDonald's Playland. We'd hear a child cry and all of us would come to alert. Just like the mom in church, we'd begin to rise. Following this metaphor, I am in awe to again write, The Lord longs to be gracious to you, therefore He will rise up to show you compassion.
The God of creation rises for me. As if being raised for me wasn't enough, He now rises. He hears my cry, He rises (Psalm 34:18). He sees me fall, He rises (Deut 33:27). I'm not sure what the rest of my day holds, but my God will rise.
I don't know what you are facing today, but I pray for you all the same. I pray that whether you are playing happily or hurting with deeply scraped knees, you will claim and rest in the truth that Our God Rises. No matter how loud or soft our cry, no matter if we have caused our pain or are merely a victim of it, our God rises.
So there you have it, my Sunday morning sermon brought to me by a tender mom and her not so happy little one.
PS. And please don't tell my pastor he was upstaged by a one-year-old!
I like the picture :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for writing. It always uplifts me and gets me to thinking about my relationship with God and others. You know what I am going thru and thank you so much for being there in word (your blog) and deed (your friendship). Pleeeease keep writing.
ReplyDeletePS Mondays verse was especially tender to me. Thanks
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