IDOK DEVOTION FOR THURSDAY, MAY 20, 2010
Praise Reports, Prayer Requests and Updates:
I’m just gonna be straight up with you. All my life for as much of it as I remember, I have wanted to be beautiful. Now mind you some days I actually feel a tad cute but only ONCE have I felt really beautiful… but that’s another story and not for today.
And while my case (obsession) is perhaps extreme, I think to varying degrees all women want to be beautiful. Why else would product peddlers be so successful?! And it would do us well if we could get our minds around the fact that spiritual beauty far, far, far exceeds physical beauty and we who have some Christian seasoning on us say we believe that, but I’m not sure we really believe it. I’m not fussing at us … heaven knows if I am I’d be preaching not to the choir but the ‘preacher’. Hmmm. Maybe I am ‘preaching to the preacher’. Okay. Focus here!
So. Here’s the text that started this line of writing this morning. Proverbs 4:9 “She will place on your head a garland of grace; She will present you with a crown of beauty.” The note I placed in the margin of my Bible was this: ‘A garland of grace on my head; what would that act out like, LORD? It would be a thing of beauty. What woman does not want to be beautiful?’ And as I type I am reminded this 4th Proverb begins ‘Hear, O sons,’ . What son of the Most High does not want to be ‘beautiful’ in the eyes of Almighty God? I can tell you for a fact my beloved is a man of men and he desires to be ‘beautiful’ to our ABBA. So. What I am saying is this message crosses gender lines. (I hope all IDOK devotions do.)
The recipient of Proverbs 4 as it was penned by human hands moved by God’s Voice was to the penman’s son. Listen to a portion of it as we read:
5 Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding!
Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.
6 “Do not forsake her, and she will guard you;
Love her, and she will watch over you.
7 “The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom;
And with all your acquiring, get understanding.
8 “Prize her, and she will exalt you;
She will honor you if you embrace her.
9 “She will place on your head a garland of grace;
She will present you with a crown of beauty.”
This is what I see. God wants us to pursue Him, pursue His Word, His Wisdom, as a man pursues a woman he wants to win. What does a man do when he is courting a woman? Even when he is occupied with what is on the ‘stage’ of his desk, she is right there head peaking out from the curtain and he is delighted! When she emails him, he answers her right away. When she calls, he takes that call even if he takes no other. When he’s in pursuit of her, surprising her with a little gift for no special reason is normal for him. See what I mean? Translate that from the natural to the spiritual, and we get a glimpse of pursing God. And what does such a pursuit do for us? Look at the woman being pursued (Mind you this only works if the woman being pursued wants to be pursued!) and what do you see? You see beauty! You see her extend grace more easily than before. You see her act in mercy. You see light and delight in her countenance. And you see the same in him. Translate that natural occurrence to the spiritual and what do you see? A garland of grace and a crown of beauty on their heads — you see minds transformed by the Word of God moving hands, feet and faces to the glory of God the Father! You see beautiful everyday living — gracing this world. You see JESUS in us!
Now! to be a doer of this and not just a writer (and reader) of it!
To review the list of names for prayer, please click here.
ABBA, I write this and I read it again and again and praise You for the privilege of writing it BUT that is not enough! I am so prone to write it and read and then NOT do it, at least not consistently. But we are gonna get there, aren’t we? Thank You LORD. Thank You. There may be some IDOKs and Readers out there who feel the same, assure them You will get them there — we just got to keep on keeping on one right decision after another. Amen and amen! Make it so!
And as we have read the names and have remembered the request for which their names were given, You have heard and You are active in their lives and I am grateful. Grateful to be a part of what You have done and will yet do for them. Grateful that You have kept our IDOK Troops safe and asking You to keep on keeping on keeping them safe and whole in spirit, soul and body and to bring them home one by one safe and sound at the appointed time. And as we put this in resting mode before posting I ask You to even in this moment tend us LORD; pursue us and birth in us a burning desire to pursue You in JESUS Name and for His sake. Amen and amen.
