OUT WALKING WITH THE LORD

With a happy spring in my step I bob along a riverbank in heavy rain, as full of the Spirit of Christ as a balloon with air. Breaking the water’s surface tension are pearls innumerable rattling down from heaven. Lord, do You hear what I hear? Do You see what I see? Indeed You do! For, ‘The hearing ear and the seeing eye the LORD has made them both.’ Proverbs 20:12. Yes Lord, but are You able to hear through my ears and see through my eyes? Do You feel the cool sharp tingle of a raindrop as it hits the back of my exposed neck? Do You smell the earthy fragrances of the freshly baptised earth as its aromas rise to meet with my nostrils? Do You hear the gurgling rushing river as it rolls over boulders in its rush to gush over falls? Do You see the rugged beauty of it all – through my eyes? Lord, are You really in me?

If You, Lord, are with me, how with me are You? I know, ‘The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.’ Romans 8:16. And, I know that I am one of Your adopted children, for, praise Your holy name, I have been redeemed by the life, death and resurrection of my elder Brother, Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. I trust Him alone to save me from Your coming judgment at the Last Day. Therefore, I don’t trust in my own feeble attempts at being good. But Lord, do You know the very thoughts and intents of my heart? Indeed You do! For, ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.’ Jeremiah 17:9&10. Then I thank You, Lord, for giving me a new heart, just as You promise in Your Word. Yes, thank You Father and Son for giving me Your Spirit who now leads me in the ways revealed in Your written Word. I used to suppress Your truth in unrighteousness, but now like a bubbling spring, praise for You gushes up from within me at worship, rest, and play! Yes, the clouds are Your chariot and You do walk on the wings of the wind!

Each Lord’s Day, in fellowship with others, I hear a portion of Your Word read, explained and applied to me. Your Word washes over me. I am a little pebble whose sharp edges are being made smooth as I roll down the river of life. As a mountain stream after rain I want to gush forth Your praises! Yes, ‘Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills be joyful before the LORD, for He is coming to judge the earth. With righteousness He shall judge the world, and the peoples with equity.’ Psalm 98:8&9. Father, I say with David, the sweet Psalmist of Israel, ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.’ Psalm 139:23&24.

‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.’ Psalm 46:1-4. Lord, plant me next to Your river that my leaf might not wither, that I might bring forth fruit in its season.

Now that the Word has become flesh and has tabernacled with us, may the Holy Spirit be pleased to tabernacle with me. For You, Lord, have opened my tent-flaps and have let Yourself in. Forgive the mess I have made of the perfect abode You had given me in the beginning along with Adam. Since Adam our representative rebelled against You in the Garden, our tabernacles have been in tatters, letting in rain and night creepers. I have feared darkness. I have feared death, but now fear these no longer forever. For, ‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.’ Psalm 23:4. In the gushing words of St Patrick, ‘Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.’

You have permitted me a glimpse through Your eyes as Your Father had You nailed to a tree to pay the penalty I owe for my sins. Lord, You said, ‘I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax, it has melted within Me.… For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones.’ Psalm 22:14&16. ‘For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.’ Hebrews 2:10.

Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.