Tag: time

End of Perfection

I have seen a limit to all perfection;
Your commandment is exceedingly broad. Psalms 119:96
Me:
Good morning Holy Spirit!
Holy Spirit:
Good morning Jon!
Me:
I have wondered about this verse in the Psalms.

Holy Spirit:
Do not neglect to consider that it is a line from a song; meant to be meditation-provoking, memory-aiding, and beautiful. Fluency in Hebrew would help somewhat with appreciating the beauty of the verse. But, as you have found, there are helps for considering what is behind the translation to English. The Psalm came through David. But you know that I was surely making the heart of the Father known in the heart of David. So this is more than a song reflecting the cleverness of David, it is a song given from the heart of God to enlighten the heart of man, especially those with Me in their hearts to aid in enjoyment. So, I will help you. Let’s paraphrase this verse!

Me and You:
Of the things that are made, that which I can see with my eyes, I can appreciate the unanswerable perfection of them. Everything is made to relate to every other thing; each particle of the cosmos depending on others of every kind and and affecting all in ways that I will probably never comprehend in this life. These are coalesced into every astounding thing in an array of great beauty and complexity and swirl and pull with strange and unimaginable forces. A lifetime is insufficient to consider all the magnificence of the things that God has spoken into existence and that You, Holy Spirit, have brooded over, and that Jesus has authority over. Even so, at the last, these things are temporary and the time of their physical existence is running out. Your Word, with its instructions and power and lessons and majesty, though, will never come to an end. Time cannot measure the extent of the perfection that has come by Your voice, eye has not seen nor can the mind of man even begin to encompass all that has been made known by You. Your heart is carried to me by contemplating these things with Your help and I come to understand that I am loved by You and am blessed by You in ways that are exceedingly broad, even unmeasurable.

Holy Spirit:
How is that?

Me:
Thank You! You are magnificent beyond understanding! I love You!

Holy Spirit:
You are welcome! I love you!

Through Job

Me:
Good morning Holy Spirit!

Holy Spirit:
Good morning Jon!

Me:
We read in the Bible Gateway “Verse of the Day” from Job 19:25 “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth.”  Some say that Job may be the oldest book in the Bible, that it is marvelous poetically and contains rich words and forms not found anywhere else in scripture.  And, at least Copley in his Gatherings in Beulah posits that Job may have lived before Abraham. Yet, here You were making known to Job the day of salvation!

Holy Spirit:
The need for a Savior is known to Us.  Was known to Us, from your temporal perspective. Even at the end of time, your need for your Savior will persist.  Even as at the last He will take His stand on the earth, you will be standing in Him, for His redemption, with its focus at the cross on your behalf, sends its power both backward and forward in all eternity such that no one is beyond the reach of the efficacy of the sufferings of the Christ and Jesus’ love makes salvation available to everyone who chooses to seek refuge in Him while he may.

Me:
How can one offer adequate thanks, or all the praise that is due God in light of so great a gift?  Help me to live in such a way as to cast no shadow obscuring the brilliance of what has been presented freely.  Let my short-sighted behaviors be reined in and let my choices be guided and empowered by You!  I love you!  Thank You for seeing to it that we have such a mighty witness to this salvation by God’s word and by Your witness, even within us!  I love! You

Holy Spirit:
You are welcome!  I love You!