I find You deep within my heart.
You cradle me in Your loving arms
And offer me Your godly cup.
With eager haste I drink my fill,
Jesus
Christ’s primary purpose is to bring us to the Father. This achievement comes
in two parts: His Atonement and His advocacy that would eventually, through our
repentance and acceptance of His sacrifice, align us again with the Father, to
last for eternity.
For many
years after my baptism, I could only see the Saviour. I prayed to the Father
but the Saviour was the one I saw in the scriptures and the one I got to know
through my personal understanding of the living word and my revelations from
the Holy Ghost. Then, after many years, all of a sudden the Father came into my
life so clearly and the Saviour took the back seat. Ever since then, the Father
became more real to my mind than ever before. I gained an incredible desire to
return to His presence and to bring Him joy through the life that I live.
Since this
has happened, I have been given the privilege of having a few ‘discussions’
with Him, mind to mind, spirit to spirit. I wrote about my latest one in a
recent blog. It helped me understand His power of discernment and intuition to
such a degree that I understood perfectly there is nothing He does not know
about His children. It’s almost like we are transparent and He can see into our
very souls. I was amazed by this. When I shared this experience on social
media, one of my readers asked me if I felt love in His presence.
This made
me reflect on the other occasions I was privileged to hear Him speak to me. I
realized that I did not feel the love…..not because He doesn’t love me or I was
preventing the feeling of it, but because of something very logical that I
believe to be true.
It’s a
matter of something inherent in us that this story is a good example of. Some
years ago, my then bishop in his talk told us how his young son came to him
with skinned knees. He assessed the damage, told his son it wasn’t that bad and
that he’ll be ok. The son went on his way. A few minutes later, the bishop’s
wife appeared with their son in tow alarmed demanding that they take him to the
hospital because he had skinned both his knees. We all laughed because we could
see the difference in the gender response.
Women are
by nature emotional and subjective and men are pragmatic and objective. Because
of their inherent nature, men’s judgment is not clouded by emotion. God the
Father is a man, He assesses the skinned knees and can cope with our sorrow and
this is why….. He is a God whose primary objective is eternal salvation of His
children. He is not interested in rescuing us from life’s difficulties at the
cost of our eternal progression. He instructs, He disciplines and He chastens
those He loves to bring them to higher ground. He wants us to learn from our
falls and to get tough enough to soldier on. In every instance I heard Him, I was corrected, I was instructed and He kept me in line. This is love, perhaps the best love
there is.
I learnt
how important this is when I was a single mother raising my two daughters. I am
an emotional female and a self-sacrificing one at that. I did everything I
could to protect my children from any pain or discomfort. I realized later they
were ill equipped to handle the harsh realities of life because they had no
father’s influence in the home to toughen them up. From this experience I also understood
why Heavenly Mother is not in charge of our earthly probation. I am convinced
she would sabotage our growth left, right, and center. I know I would, because
I am a woman and a mother who cannot bear the suffering of my children.
God the
Father looks at the overall picture….from a different vantage point than we do.
He looks ahead to see how we will ‘grow up’. This is love. And it might not be
felt until Judgment Day when our Advocate will step forward and reveal our
difficulties that need mercy applied to. This is the partnership: the Father is
justice and the Son is mercy.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Father and Son by Danny Hahlbohm)
Your arms, so willing and so strong,
Dived into the deep and shattered my sorrow;
The depth was no match for the strength
You gained at Calvary so long ago.
Your saving grace
Has lifted me to Your cross
Becoming my mortal weakness’ greatest foe.
I now walk with You
In paths I dare not walk alone;
In the valley of shadow of death,
I rejoice to be Your own.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: God of Wonder by Yongsung Kim)
The greatest lesson we can learn from ancient Israel is the law of consequence. I see this in their 40 years of wanderings.
After arriving at Mt Sinai in the third month following their departure from Egypt (Exodus 19:1-2), they remained there for a year where they received the Ten Commandments, made a covenant with Jehovah and built the tabernacle. It took just eleven days following their departure from Mt Sinai to arrive to Kadesh-barnea where they were on the verge of the promised land (Deuteronomy 1:2). It was within their grasp but their failure to have faith in obtaining the land (Numbers 13:26-33) resulted in one serious consequence…..so near, yet so far.
After
Moses pleaded with Jehovah to spare the congregation from destruction due to
their murmuring against Him, the Lord showed mercy and decreed that all men 20
years of age and older, men of war who wouldn’t take possession of the land due
to lack of faith, will never enter the promised land but He would allow the
next generation to possess it (Numbers 14:26-35). It makes for heart wrenching
reading.
It cost ancient Israel an additional 38 years of wandering to suffer the consequence of disobedience. They did not arrive at the promised land again until all the men 20 years and over who had come out of Egypt had died in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 2:14). One might ask, surely in 38 years the Israelites would have become repentant enough for Jehovah to show mercy…..but the consequences of sin cannot be removed even when forgiveness is granted……primarily for our subsequent learning and growth. Where a consequence has to be suffered, it is unlikely the sin will be repeated. In Israel’s instance, the mercy was given the Israelites when their destruction was averted and another promise made….the mercy was the second chance.
This is the greatest lesson that can be gleaned from this. The Saviour will never go back on His word. When Moses, after 38 years of wanderings, stood on the east of river Jordan and viewed the promised land of Canaan from Pisgah with longing, he beseeched the Lord to allow him to enter the promised land despite being told he will never get there because of the incident of ‘the rock of Meribah’ (Numbers 20:2-13). The Lord refused and told him to ‘speak no more to Him of this matter’ (Deuteronomy 3:23-26). Once again, consequences have to be suffered, especially for Israelites who had to become a peculiar people.
This, however, is the greatest lesson….the Lord will not go back on His word and this is why. The God of Israel is a God of integrity who does not bend with the wind, is not wishy washy and is not changeable. If He was, we would not know where we stood from one moment to the next. We can therefore be assured that He will never go back on what He has decreed and this is why it is important for us to know this, so that we know with utmost surety that He will never break His covenant with us (Leviticus 26:44,45; Deuteronomy 4:31).
This
is a God we can trust and depend on for the salvation of our souls. A God who
is the same yesterday, today and forever. This is a God who will never forsake
us, a God of commitment who endured the cross to the end and given us this
assurance: “Behold I have graven thee
upon the palms of my hands….” (Isaiah
49:15,16)
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: My Judgments are Just by B. Laura Wilson)
“By day and
by night the shepherd is always with his sheep…..This was necessary on account
of the exposed nature of the land, and the presence of danger from wild animals
and robbers. One of the most familiar and beautiful sights of the East is that
o f the shepherd leading his sheep to the pasture…..He depends upon the sheep
to follow, and they in turn expect him never to leave them…..As he is always
with them, and so deeply interested in them, the shepherd comes to know his
sheep very intimately….
“One day a
missionary, meeting a shepherd on one of the wildest parts of Lebanon, asked
him various questions about his sheep, and among others if he counted them
every night. On answering that he did not, he was asked how he knew if they were
all there or not. His reply was: ‘Master, if you were to put a cloth over my
eyes, and bring me any sheep and only let me put my hands on its face, I could
tell you in a moment if it was mine or not.’” (George M. Mackie, “Bible Manners and Customs” p 33,35)
When
the apostles returned from their first mission, they presented themselves to
Jesus to account for all their labours (Mark 6:30). Mark notes that the crowds
thronged them so much that they could not find time or place to eat (v31). For
this reason Jesus invited them to retreat with Him by ship to a solitary place.
When they arrived and Jesus came out of the ship he saw a multitude of people
who had run on foot out of all the cities to see Him (v33).
Mark
records that Jesus was moved with compassion when He saw them ‘because they were
as sheep not having a shepherd and He began to teach them…’ (v34). And when the
day was far spent He would not send them away hungry but fed 5,000 men plus
women and children with five loaves of bread and two fishes (Matthew 14:21). As
with the first, so the second occasion of feeding 4,000 men beside women and
children, who were with Him for three days, with seven loaves and a few little
fishes, all because: “I have compassion on the multitude….” (Matthew 15:30-38)
In my favourite chapter of
Ezekiel, Jehovah speaks extensively
about the shepherds of Israel who had scattered His sheep through neglect and
then promises He would find them and feed them upon the high mountains of
Israel (Ezekiel 34:2,4,11-16,25,31). Was He cognisant of the promise He made
through Ezekiel when the physically and spiritually lame flocked to Him, like
sheep seeking their Shepherd, feeding upon the compassion spilling from His soul
and turning the high mountains of Israel into pasture hereto before unknown??
Compassion
rent His godly heart
When
He saw His scattered sheep,
Upon
the high mountains of Israel
Running
to His shelter,
His
promise for Him to keep.
A
promise He would honour
That
His lost sheep He would find,
Upon
the high mountains of Israel
That
heartless shepherds left behind.
So
His promise He valiantly fulfilled
As
His sheep sat hungry on Bethsaida’s hill,
And
fed upon the loaves and fishes
That
multiplied upon His will.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Shepherd of My Soul by Gabriel Heaton)
You met me at dawn
With my memories so vast;
I remembered coming to You
Long ago through the water’s gate,
So wide open for my soul to embrace.
You flowed through my heart since that day
Showing me the wonder of You;
I have seen Your agonising sacrifice,
Never to be erased.
I hear You, I am Your sheep,
I know You and Your sacrificial pains,
For the believing blood of Israel
Runs through my veins.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Solitary View by Greg Collins)
You followed your mother into my heart
Carefully tracing her footprints that led to mine,
Knowing I was waiting for your loving arms.
You are the offspring of my body and my heart;
The proof of God’s mercy,
The proof of His love divine.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Angels Round About Thee by Annie Henrie Nader)
