MERRY MONDAY BY PARRIS BAILEY-
“Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips” Isaiah 17:10
In church Sunday Frank talked about Deism vs Theism. Deism holds that God does not intervene with the functioning of the natural world in any way, allowing it to run according to the laws of nature. Whereas Theism, in this specific sense, conceives of God as personal, present and active in the governance and organization of the world and the universe. I think to many of us without even realizing it begin to act like Deists. In other words not “MINDFUL OF THE ROCK OF OUR STRENGTH”.
What is so special about a rock? Being a Christian is not about obeying rules and being dutiful. Wishing you could drink, lusting for things of the world and living angry doesn’t sound like a free person. Have we been mindful of the Rock? Do we live our lives depending on His presence or live our lives as we want? It about learning to drink the honey out of the rock and the rock is Christ my friend.
Edwards always hits the nail on the head, when he says, “But Christ Jesus has true excellency, and so great excellency, that when they come to see it they look no further, but the mind rests there. It sees a transcendent glory and an ineffable sweetness in him; it sees that till now it has been pursuing shadows, but that now it has found the substance; that before it had been seeking happiness in the stream, but that now it has found the ocean. The excellency of Christ is an object adequate to the natural cravings of the soul, and is sufficient to fill the capacity. It is an infinite excellency, such an one as the mind desires, in which it can find no bounds; and the more the mind is used to it, the more excellent it appears. Every new discovery makes this beauty appear more ravishing, and the mind sees no end; here is room enough for the mind to go deeper and deeper, and never come to the bottom. The soul is exceedingly ravished when it first looks on this beauty, and it is never weary of it.”
Ps. 81:6 says, ‘He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.” I couldn’t help think about my own actions this week as I engaged in my daily activities. Am I taking things into my own hands? Do I lay down my life for my brother? Do I walk in forgiveness? Has my prayer been to do only “what my Heavenly Father does”? Only Honey from the Rock can satisfy, it flows from everywhere, all we have to do is be Mindful.