So here we are at the start of another autumn and another book. This one is significantly heavier than the other books we've read, but please don't let that put you off! This thin volume is a goldmine. If you haven't got a copy yet, you can find online texts here or here.
This week, please read Chapter One, Following Hard After God. Feel free to post your thoughts and reflections anytime between now and next Thursday.
* Catch up on the conversation so far here.
6 comments:
Oh dear, Thursday is almost upon us! Anyways, I loved the idea that "we pursue God because, and only because He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit" - He is continuously drawing us to Himself. 'He waits to be wanted'. Scripture is full of this, but somehow I forget, and my image of God slips into someone I need to impress or appease.
I can personally attest to the truth of Tozer's statement that 'the stiff & wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire'. Oh, this is certainly an area I want to stop being complacent about!
By the time I reached the quote of Von Hegel "God is always previous" something happened within me, It struck me in such a way that just tears emerged. Nothing of our pittiful efforts towards holiness has our "own trademark" . It all starts with God, and I thank him for that longing that he planted in my heart, to want more of him, of his glory... and yet as in the closing prayer, many a time I have to confess the same "I am ashamed of my lack of desire"... The need of grace to rise and follwo Him from the misty lowlands where I have wondered so long...
That phrase 'misty lowlands where I have wandered so long' really struck a chord with me. Reminded me of that beautiful hymn which says 'prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love', but then it also says, 'Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee'.
I was really blessed by this chapter, and was reminded of something I was talking with a friend about just the other day. It has to do with how God is a person and getting to know him as such.
I shared with her how when I was praying, God had brought to mind times past when we (God and I) had had conversations. The memories were often of particular events when I had cried out to God. It struck me that one of my favorite things to do in prayer is reminisce with God about times past... our shared memories. Like old friends, it is so precious to recall with Him past experiences. I have often thought one of the great blessings of being married would be to have a partner (your best friend) with whom you could share life and all its journeys and experiences. However, God reminded me that I already have that in Him. My whole life He has been there, even before I knew or acknowledged Him. My life thus far has already been shared with Him, and I can look forward to the future knowing that wherever I go or whatever I do, He is with me. A personal God. Oh what a glorious thought! ("If I rise on the wings of the dawn, If I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." Psalm 139:9-10).
Jess, that's so beautiful.
i have been reading Exodus, about how God kept Pharaoh's heart hardened and stubborn. it is quite scary to see how one can be shown God's power and glory and yet still be so blind. this chapter was a good reminder that God is always the initiator- "before a man can seek God,God must first have sought the man". it wasnt by Pharaoh's own realization that he is dealing with the King of kings when his first born died but God's working in and through him, and that for a purpose too.
however, all that work of God to call us does not stop when we respond. "...the outworking of that impulse (to pursue God which originates with Him) is our following hard after Him. this really made me do some self- reflection and very ashamedly see my own lack of desire on many recent occasions. makes me wonder if people around me have been able to feel the heat of my desire for God.
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