Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

Longing for Eden

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Isaiah 11:1-2, 5, 8-9
On that day a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.
The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him:
a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
A Spirit of counsel and of strength,
a Spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord.
Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips. The baby shall play by the cobra's den, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest.
There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord,
as the waters cover the sea.

What we were made for is what we long for. I feel crushed and broken by injustice, especially when others are the victims. I have always wanted to protect my family from harm. And I'm no different than anyone else. We long for justice and peace.

What mother wants to fear for her child's safety? Could snakes be safe? How about strangers? Could it be that nothing will harm my child again after "that day," when the shoot sprouts from the stump of Jesse, when Jesus is born and the Messiah is come?

On the first page of the Bible God described himself in the plural: "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness..." (Gen 1:26). Now Jesus comes out of God to turn those multiplied men back to their creator and their source, and everything is new.

Shakespeare wrote for Hamlet: "What a piece of work is man: how noble in reason, how infinite in faculty, in form and moving how express and admirable ... in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god ... the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals!"

And then Hamlet replies to himself, "And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me: no, nor woman neither ..." Hamlet longs for all that is good and right in what God made, as do we all. And he finds no way to get there.

In that same way we are all bipolar. Stretching ourselves to reach out for stars and then crashing back to earth. God watches and waits, and then in the fullness of time sends his son, sends Himself to redeem and rescue us.

Is his redemption complete? Yes. Is the rescue operation still going on? Yes. Will the earth one day be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea?

Yes.

We are someday to be freed from the bonds of time, Lord. You have done all that needs to be done. The wolf does not lie down with the lamb, but we know she will. And you will take us home.

Devotions Archive

Longing for Eden

Tuesday, December 2, 2008