Likewise, distance will strain our relationship with God. It can cause a loneliness that sends an ambivalent lover looking for someone more present. More than making the heart grow fonder, that long distance feeling can make the heart go wander.
People distance themselves from God for different reasons. The Jews distanced themselves from God when they thought He was unfair. David said un-confessed sin separated him from God. According to Paul, long distance feelings from God are a result of neglect (Eph. 4:18). The cure: increase your face-time.
“When You said, Seek My face, my heart said to You, Your face, O Lord, I shall seek”(Ps 27:8)... So then, Let us rise early and go to the vineyards; Let us see whether the vine has budded and its blossoms have opened, and whether the pomegranates have bloomed. There I will give you my love (Song of Songs 7:12).
"Fonder" reminded me of our word "fondo" in Spanish, which means "bottom", "end", "back". Actually the word "profundity" has the Latin word "fundus" in it, "bottom". "Profundity" is the equivalent of the word "depth", from English origin. So, if you grow fonder in your relationship with God you are growing deeper.
ReplyDeleteJust by reading the title it made me think about the times when I've been desperate and didn't know what to do, where to turn, who to go to, thinking that maybe I was doing something wrong and that's why I was feeling that way; I tried to seek for things around me to calm my inner state with no success. Then suddenly the Lord would show me that the only way was down, meaning humbling myself before Him and going deeper with Him, it was a time to dig, a time for my roots in Him to grow deeper. I know that meant that He needed me to grow stronger and firmer in Him, and that's why He allowed that kind of places where the only way out is down. It produces an intimacy that we wouldn´t dream possible. He is taking us to His best for us, although the way seems odd to us at first, until we come, little by little, to know His ways, and are able then to glorify Him.
"Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." Matthew 7:14
I seek Him, He searches me. ...I seek His face...He searches my heart. :)
ReplyDeletethanks for the insight from the Spanish word. What a great addition to our meditation on love.
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