Who Can Love You as Good as the Great I Am? Eccl 11-12; Ps 73

May the mumbling commence!

“Who do you run to when it all comes down?  Who’s gonna pick you up from the ground?  Who’s gonna wipe away the tears you cry?”  These are some questions from a popular Heart song.  The last couple of chapters of Ecclesiastes and Psalm 73 help to answer these questions.

The ways of God are difficult (perhaps impossible) to know, and they are hard to follow logically or emotionally.  Read a verse from Ecclesiastes 11:

As you do not know the path of the wind,

or how the body is formed in a mother's womb,

so you cannot understand the work of God,

the Maker of all things. (Verse 5)

This verse reminds me of the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus.  What does it mean to know where the wind will blow?  What does it mean to be born anew to be children of the wind, children of the Spirit of God?  It may mean chasing after God’s own heart.  Can we ever predict or understand what the Spirit will ask of us?  No!  That is the joy, wonder and adventure of faith.  I do not know where God will lead me, but I do know that I can fully trust in God to have my eternal best interests in mind.  That is my faith in a nutshell.

Sometimes the going will get troublesome.  I know who I will run to.  I know who will pick my pathetic body up from the ground.  I know who will wipe away the tears I cry.  I want to burst into another song with the psalmist:

Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you. 

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever. (Ps. 73:25-26)

God will await me with open arms when I run to him – no matter how long and how far I have wandered from Him.  God will pick my weary body from the ground – like the anonymous author of “Footprints in the Sand” tells us: in the worst parts of our lives is when God carries us.  God will wipe away the tears I cry.  There will be no more tears in heaven.

There is no one who can love me as good as God.

Read the conclusion to Ecclesiastes:

Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. 

Now all has been heard;

here is the conclusion of the matter:

Fear God and keep his commandments,

for this is the whole duty of man. 

For God will bring every deed into judgment,

including every hidden thing,

whether it is good or evil.  (12:12b-14)

There are countless books out there.  Sometimes, it seems a large portion of those books have made it onto my bookshelves (especially when it comes time to move).  But there is one set of books that I keep coming back to – the canonized books of the Holy Bible.  May God continue to whisper in my ear through Scripture, prayer, fasting, and living in a holy community of God’s children.  May I strive this day to be born anew of the Spirit.  Being born anew is a daily struggle.

Enough mumbling for today…

Peace Out