End Game
You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13 NASB
Search – Thirty days of self-examination. Thirty days of drawing closer, of recognizing the grace of the Father, the mystery of His care and concern, the depths of our need. Thirty days to begin something new again.
We have examined this verse many times (click here). You might think there isn’t much more to say but Isaiah disagrees. In Isaiah 11:10, we who were once far off (namely, Gentiles) will be the ones who will seek the Messiah as King of all God’s children. With Isaiah’s context we learn that every act of seeking the Kingdom is eschatological, that is to say, every time we fulfill a commandment or act with righteous intent, we are at the same time announcing the coming reign of the Messiah and the return of God’s rule to the earth. On this last day of our brief journey we discover one more reason, one further motivation for pressing to the limit with the help of the Spirit. It isn’t only that we matter to God. What we do matters to the restoration of God’s reign. God has given over to us the final chapter in the return to well-being. We seek Him in order to find who we are and why we matter. He seeks us in order to bring about the restoration. The reason we pursue Him is because He pursues us. The end game is a double-edged search. It is the universe and the Creator in search of an answer. The only question left to you and me is this: Will you join Him?
Will we journey together? We will allow Him to find us? Will we become comrades in the quest?
It is quite impossible to say now how this journey will go and who will come along. In the end, that really doesn’t seem to matter too much. Today I can experience the surprise of discovering that God is seeking me, and that I am searching with great care for Him. Today I can be doubly aware of those patterns that divert me from His fellowship on the way. Today I can act with selfless abandonment. Today is the day I can reset the clock, experience the wonder of living and find love in my heart for His grace.
God is calling. “Whom shall we send?”
Hinneni
Topical Index: search, darash, hinneni, Isaiah 11:10, Jeremiah 29:13
The search for the answer is the Way from “Me” to the restoration of “We”. As salvation cannot be accomplished without the joint cooperation of the saved and the Saviour, the restoration of the Kingdom cannot be accomplished without the joint cooperation of the saved with each other and with heaven. We have been suffering a massive power outage from a cosmic storm, and we can only get it all turned back on when we have perfected the connections between the fractures. The kingdom of “I” assumes that power originates with me: the Kingdom of Heaven assures us that the Power station that generates the love we all need is a function of the space in between.
As the gospel is so simple that even a child can grasp it, I think our main theological confusions must all arise from long centuries of pagan influence: the church of Self has corrupted our understanding of the beginning – the Source – as well as the application. Starting from Self, as paganism does, we appropriate the language of heaven to serve in our temples, and mass confusion has resulted. We assume that G-d wants to be like us, so we ascribe to Him our desired characteristics – which is pagan to the core – and we then accuse Him of motives so awful, and of a character so sinister, no wonder we run in fear.
Salvation is where G-d seeks us. It is His move toward us. Repentance, then, which is simply turning around in the Hebrew understanding, is how we seek Him back. I can rest assured that my rebellion has all consisted of running away (LOL!), so I can also rest assured that seeking Him with all my heart is going to consist of halting that flight, and turning around. He never left me: I turned my back.
The answers we are all seeking are not in the realm of knowledge, so words are not going to give them to us. The answer to our problem is to find a Power switch, and get our lights back on. The dark is a function of the fracture of connection, so I am going to be able to see if and only when I reach out and touch somebody else. The answer to my need is going to be found when I reach out to meet you in yours, for we share the same problem: we need each other. This has nothing to do with secret mysteries or mystical enlightenment: this has everything to do with the fact that I lost myself when I lost you.
Of Saints and Aints
“WE” (as in “whosoever will”) have been issued a royal invitation. There is soon to be a grand and glorious party and ALL are invited. No exceptions, no exclusions. Friend, “Believe in the LORD Jesus Christ and YOU SHALL be saved.” ~ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other Name under Heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved ~ (Acts 4.12)
Yes, what glorious good news! – What a grand invitation! “Whosoever will” may come! (and when our LORD said, “whosoever,” —He included me!!)
Jesus is coming, and Jesus is calling. It is written: “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. [Both] The Spirit and the Bride [the redeemed ones] say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes, take the Water of Life without cost. (Revelation 22.17)
Without cost? There IS no “free lunch!” – SomeOne has paid for “all of this!”
Do YOU know?
~ knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers..
Do YOU know?
~but with precious blood, as of a Lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of The Messiah.. (1 Peter 1.18,19)
Yes. Amein. Hallelujah! “TETALESTI!!” – “Paid in full.”
Not my words! – HIS! (Is anyone listening?) — “No man” [no, not one) comes unto the Father, but by ME!!
WORD UP!!
~ For the message (the LOGOS) of the cross [the tslav, the execution stake] is foolishness to those who are [now] perishing..
but to us who are [now] being saved it is the power of God!! ~
Yes, Paul, this IS a faithful saying, and it is worthy of full [universal] acceptance..
“The Messiah died for sinners.. – [a Sacrificial, Substitutionary death] of whom [among them] I am chief.”
Yes. ~ Because God *SO LOVED the world.. He gave His only begotten Son, [this is My Son in whom I AM well-pleased!] that “whosoever” [what a wonderful word!] believes in Him shall NOT perish(!), but have everlasting life! For God did NOT send His Son into the world to condemn the world (!) But that the world —through Him* might be saved. (John 3.16,17)
O, how marvelous!
—O, how wonderful!
and my Song shall ever be..
Hinneni
I don’t know how many of this community are aware, but Truett Haire has been admitted to the hospital for heart surgery on Monday. His condition is serious, and his doctors don’t feel that they can do bypass, so they are resorting to stents for now. I am asking for your prayers and concern for Truett and his precious family right now, who need him very much, as we do, too. Thank you.
Truett is back home and recovering. Thank you all, and YHVH most of all.
Yay! Yah is merciful and good and kind and faithful and…
HalleluYAH. “There is healing in His wings”
“What we do matters to the restoration of God’s reign. God has given over to us the final chapter in the return to well-being. We seek Him in order to find who we are and why we matter. He seeks us in order to bring about the restoration. The reason we pursue Him is because He pursues us.” Amein v’amein.
YES, for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the manifestation of YHWH’s beauty and magnificence being revealed IN us. (Rom 8:18-19) For the anxious longing/anticipation/travailing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the righteous sons/People of God. They bring forth much need light to a world of corruption, deception, degeneration/foolishness and darkness.
IF we say we walk in Torah, do we wish to bring true liberty to mankind by our words and deeds according to His directions/measures (Micah 6:8) in awe of Him? That is the challenge facing us. It’s more than a salvation issue, it is an END issue, that of restoration we ought to yearn for, not only for ourselves but the entire creation.
Shalom.