Guard Your Heart

Day 208: Malachi 1-4

I find it interesting that here at the end of the Old Testament, God talks about divorce. This topic is not a common one in the OT, and bringing it up here at the end of the OT is much like bringing up a new topic in the conclusion of an essay--you shouldn't do it. I'm sure the placement of this narrative is probably more interspersed in the life of Israel than it appears to be something at the end of the journey before the New Testament begins, but I do find it interesting.

The book of Malachi is where the Lord says, "I hate divorce," and "To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty" (2:16, 17). These statements indicate that God does not like divorce. What's interesting here is that God wants us to be proactive in our marriages so that divorce never even comes up. God tells us, "Guard your heart; do not be unfaithful." He doesn't say here, "Guard your body," even though it is the body that is inherently involved in sex outside of marriage. Instead, he reminds us to guard our hearts. If we guard our hearts and protect them from getting emotionally attached to someone other than our spouse, God seems to say that we will be protected from divorce. Guarding our heart is a way to protect ourselves within the confines of marriage. If we never put ourselves in situations where we might become emotionally attached to someone else, then we won't be tempted to be in relationships that we shouldn't be.

I think that this concept of guarding our heart can actually be applied to our relationship with the Lord, too. When we let our hearts have other gods, we have not guarded our hearts as God as asked us to do. As we go out today, let's all protect our hearts so that they are reserved for God and for our spouse alone. 

Amazing Love

Day 194: Hosea 9-14

What's interesting to me about the story of Hosea and Gomer is that Hosea married Gomer knowing that she would be unfaithful. God told her that she would become an adulterer, that she would have affairs, that she would have relationships with many different men. And yet Hosea still married her. Did you process that? Hosea still married her, knowing she would cheat on him and have other lovers. He still did it. He still married her. Wow. How stupid is that? Would you marry someone that you knew would cheat on you? Would be unfaithful to you? I wouldn't.

But Hosea did.

And God did, too. God loved us, he chose us, he "married" us to him, all the while knowing that we would sin, that we would have other gods, that we would have other lovers besides Him. He still loved us and chose us. In spite of our unfaithfulness to him. Wow.

I'm not going to say that God is stupid. No way is he stupid! On the contrary, he's AMAZING. That he did that for us. That He sacrificed his own self-interests and loved us instead. He is truly AMAZING. And Hosea was pretty amazing, too. He married and loved Gomer in spite of her flaws and eventually she finds redemption. She commits to Hosea and remains faithful to us.

This story is a wonderful parallel to our relationship with God. We have been redeemed by the love of God. The blood of Jesus bought our salvation. And how amazing is that!

The Love Dare: Write It Down!

Day 146: Song of Solomon 5-8

Typically when I'm in my care, I listen to Christian radio. It's encouraging, uplifting, and I can have it on when the kids are in the car with me. Ever since I have been commuting to Waco in the morning, I have had on K-LOVE (a radio station broadcasted in numerous markets nationwide). The morning DJs, Lisa and Eric, are currently participating in and advocating a 40-Day "Love Dare." This dare is based on the popular book, The Love Dare, from which the popular movie Fireproof was based. Now I have not seen the movie, nor have I read the book or completed the 40-Day Love Dare. However, what I have gathered by listening to them talk about this dare on their radio station is about the importance of loving, honoring, respecting, and encouraging your spouse.

After finishing Song of Solomon today, a book filled with words of love between people and about one's loved one, I noticed how descriptive these people are of their loved ones. They list numerous positive characteristics about their "beloved," and they focus on all the wonderful characteristics held by their loved one. I don't know how often we write down the things that we love about our spouse, but I do know there was an exercise like this in The Love Dare. I think that writing down the things we love about our spouse can do several important things, and at the top of the list is that this activity can remind us of the positive things. So often the one or two things that bug us about our loved one seem to come up again and again and again, but when we write down the positive attributes, our focus changes. We become more in tuned with our spouse. We are happier. We forgive more. We give our spouse the benefit of the doubt. Our perspective is altered. We see our spouse differently. Perhaps the book and the activity of The Love Dare is so popular because we come to see our spouse in ways that God sees him or her.

I have always been an advocate of writing-to-learn, the theory that says writing is generative. You learn what you think by writing it down. And I think it's important to write down all the wonderful things about our loved ones--spouse, children, boyfriend/girlfriend, sister, brother, mother, father, friend. By reflecting on what we love about them, we come to see them as God sees them, as we should see them, and we love them more. During this month of love, I hope you will consider writing down in secret the things you love about those most precious to you.

Sexual Poetry

Day 145: Song of Solomon 1-4

I like poetry. Words sewn together to form images of something is a beautiful art. And Song of Solomon, it seems to me, is a book of poetry, specifically poetry dedicated to a loved one. Sensual poetry. Sexual poetry. It almost makes me blush reading this book, but then I think about my own marriage and the beauty that comes through the sexual relationship I have with my spouse, and these verses make me smile. For I know the beauty that comes through sex in the marriage relationship, and I'm glad that the Bible acknowledges this, too.

Where is Your Broom Tree?

Day 68: I Kings 18-22

This weekend was a wonderful time of relaxation and renewal for me and Shane. We were blessed to have two wonderful friends give us the gift of a weekend trip to San Antonio. These dear friends were supporters of The Grove who knew firsthand how important it is for couples to spend time together, especially after such a long, arduous time.

This weekend was wonderful for us. We held hands as we walked along the winding paths of the Riverwalk. We laughed and giggled with delight as we always do when it’s just the two of us together. We relished each other’s company and enjoyed being together. We reflected on our life together. The valleys and the mountains. The bad decisions we’ve made in the past and the best ones we’ve ever made. We shopped, read books, and relaxed. What a wonderful weekend.

We have come far since the days when we felt we were sitting under the broom tree, wondering when God would save us from these days of “excrement” (a word used by my new favorite author Madeleine L’Engle in Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage—a wonderful book and one that I encourage you to read). The broom tree, you see, is where Elijah went when he was being chased by Ahab who was trying to kill him. Elijah found this broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. He tells the Lord that he has had enough and he is now ready to die. Then he falls asleep.

Although we haven’t necessarily said that we wanted to die, we have felt some of these same feelings that Elijah had, wondering what it was all for. Here you had Elijah who was trying to do a good thing by prophesying and leading people to the Lord. But, instead, these people turn to Baal and to other idols, and Elijah feels like his life is not worth anything.

Many of us have sat under a broom tree before, wondering what is happening to life as we knew it, wondering how we got HERE, to this specific point, wondering how our life has turned out this way. And Elijah felt that way, too. He is ready to die.

But then an angel comes and tells Elijah to eat. The angel even provides food and water for Elijah. This food and water sustains him, so much so that he has enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights until he reaches Horeb, the mountain of God. At the mountain of God, Elijah gets to see the Lord pass by from his place in the mouth of the cave. The Lord doesn’t appear in the form of thunder, or a lighting bolt, or even fire. Instead, the Lord passes by in the form of a gentle whisper.

This weekend was a time for a couple to hear the loving, tender whisper of the Lord God speaking to us, telling us that he is proud of us, that he loves us. And forever reminding us that He is there for us, always, but especially in those days of excrement when we feel like crawling up under a broom tree and dying. God will find us there, and he will provide for us. He will meet all of our needs. 

God's covenant with Israel

Day 19: Day 22 to 30

Laws and laws.

Rules and rules.

Do this. Don’t do this.

The reading for today seems like a bunch of “dos” and “don’ts,” and it’s easy to get bogged down in all the details; trying to do learn all the commands that God gives to Moses on the mountain, commands that Moses then takes to the Israelites. There are a lot of them, and they are very detailed and specific.

But it’s not just about that, I don’t think. First, these laws seem a bit outdated to me. We don’t have tabernacles; nor do we need to know how to make them.

The denomination of which I’m a part doesn’t even have priests, so the talk about the vestments and such isn’t really relevant either.

But what is relevant is the covenant.

God makes a covenant with Israel, and Israel makes a covenant with God. It’s almost like they are making vows with each other. God promises to do things for God, and the Israelites covenant to do things for Him.

Covenant. A promise.

A promise to be holy. A promise to provide.

What promises have I made in my life? Have I kept them? Have I held my word?

I can think of two main vows I have made. One was to God on the day I dedicated my life to being a Christian and was baptized, dying to myself and vowing to live for God. I still live by this vow to God. It’s a covenant I keep. But I also know that I sin—daily.

The other vows were to my husband on the day I married him. Those vows were and still are extremely important to me, but I don’t think I read them enough to remember what I promised to him. He sure puts up with a lot. Although I have kept my vows in the grand sense, I know there are days when I haven’t kept them at the more local level. Just like I’ve messed up with God, I’ve messed up with Shane.

So if I’ve messed up, does it mean that I’ve broken the covenant? Yes it does.

But that’s where God’s grace comes in. That’s where the blood of Jesus comes in to save me. Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross allows me to keep my covenants even though I break them. It allows me to renew my covenant with God and my husband and my children and others. This part of the Bible, though, is important in showing me what covenant is about.