Tag Archives: belong

SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS…BELONGING – 2

Bible Study, ,

Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”

‭‭Malachi‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬-‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God created humans with the deep need to belong. By instituting the sacred bond of marriage, safeguarding it in a legally-binding covenant for life, He created families to satisfy and nurture that need to belong. 

One of the cruellest tricks the devil has played on the human race has been to destroy belongingness in the family. He has cheapened both the sacred estate and the exclusive sexual union of marriage to the extent that marriage is scorned and casual sexual intercourse has become a form of recreation and entertainment in society all over the world. The outcome is many generations of orphans who belong to no one. 

Then, despite the network of family ties God intended, Satan’s next step was to ruin those ties through selfishness, conflict, and even permanent “cancellation” within the family. The first two siblings, Cain and Abel, were separated forever by Cain’s murderous act against His brother. 

God’s purposes were put on hold but never obliterated by human wickedness. His plan to reconcile His people, alienated from Himself  and from one another by their sin, was perfectly fulfilled when humans “cancelled” His own Son by crucifixion in the belief that they had finally got rid of Him. 

Despite the belongingness of the ties God wants us to have within the human context, there can be no greater belongingness than to the God who created us to belong to Him and to one another in His divine and forever family. 

A while ago, I was reading the following verses in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians and puzzling over its meaning. 

“No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him— these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭2‬:‭7‬-‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

In these words of Paul, “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived — the things God has prepared for those who love him—“, I recognised that I had read words like this somewhere before…

Aha! I remembered!

“Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭64‬:‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

…similar words but not exactly the same. Like a miner digging for treasure, I began to dig into the meaning of “wait” in Isaiah’s version, “love” in Paul’s quote…Where was the link?

The meaning of the Hebrew word “wait”, “chakah”, has in it the idea of something being carved into or pierced. Pierced? What does that have to do with love?

There was an Old Testament practice that illustrates this process of belongingness through love and piercing. Let me explain how I came on this idea. 

“If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything.”…

“But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭21‬:‭2, 5‬-‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Wow! Look at that! A perfect match!

If he loved his master and his family who remained slaves in the master’s household, a slave could forgo his freedom by his having his ear pierced by an awl driven through his earlobe, which would become his mark of belonging. 

What is the connection between this practice of piercing and our belongingness to God? My mind went, immediately, to Jesus on the cross…

“The soldiers therefore came and broke their legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.”

‭‭John‬ ‭19‬:‭32‬-‭34‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭53‬:‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Isn’t God’s Word amazing!

Jesus was pierced in our place for our sin, so that, because we are “in Him” through faith in Him, we can now belong to God forever, His love slaves…

Now, let’s look at Paul’s words again. 

“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—“

Why did Paul write, “those who love Him” and not “those whom He loves”? The two Scriptures must be a perfect match. The slave’s love for his master and to be pierced was his choice. Our love for Jesus and our identification with the one who was pierced for us is our choice.

 For us, then, our belongingness to God through Jesus was forever sealed by His being pierced for us.  No matter what separation, rejection, cancellation, alienation, happens to us on earth, we are God’s own treasured possession, chosen and bound to Him by the blood of His Son. 

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭2‬:‭9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession.”

MOLLY AND ME – BELONGING

Christian Life, , , ,

I remember the day I fetched Molly from the breeder. She wasn’t actually my first choice.

I was given a Yorkshire terrier puppy as a farewell gift when I left the church and my role as pastoral assistant to move to another city. Tosca, my Yorkie, was six weeks old. After her first night, when she missed her mother and her siblings, she settled down into a rambunctious, independent little bundle of mischief. I adored her, but she became a mystery to me.

I still continued to serve the church in a once-a-week capacity by travelling to my ex hometown to work in the office.

Two of Tosca’s siblings had been bought by my pastor and the playschool administrator with whom I stayed overnight every week. The three siblings spent two days every week romping and sleeping together in the office complex but, as soon as I arrived back home, Tosca would become a morose, even depressed little creature. She refused to eat and slept most of the day – until I realised that she was lonely. Another Yorkie as a companion would have been just too much so I settled for a miniature dachshund.

By this time, Tosca was five months old and Molly six weeks. At first, Tosca would have nothing to do with Molly because she couldn’t figure out what she was! However, after a few days, they became inseparable. Molly loved Tosca so much that she insisted on sleeping, not just in her bed but as close as she could to her, mostly lying against her or on top of her.

Then came the terrible day I shall never forget. I took Tosca to the SPCA to be spayed when she was six months old. Never imagining for a moment that anything would go wrong, I left her in the capable hands of the vet, only to receive a phonecall a few hours later from the distraught assistant to tell me that Tosca had reacted to the anaesthetic. I rushed out to the SPCA and there lay my little treasure, all the life with her energy and zest gone out of her. I was devastated!

Fortunately, I still had my little Molly. Needless to say, with her little canine companion no longer there to cuddle up to, she bonded even more strongly with me. My bed became her place of comfort! She has never slept anywhere else at night, as close as she can get to me, since that day.

Molly is truly mine. She loves people (at least those she knows)! She makes a huge fuss of my family and the friends who visit from time to time, but she knows to whom she belongs. When she is through playing or exploring the garden for snails, she comes running into the house and insists that I pick her up so that she can cuddle up on my lap and sleep in absolute contentment.

O, how our heavenly Father longs that we would know and understand what it means to belong to Him. I bought Molly with hard cash. He bought us with the precious blood of His Son! Molly is my pet. We are His beloved sons and daughters. Molly runs to me for protection, for food, and for comfort and companionship. Father God wants us to run to Him for every need and in every situation because He is our source. Without Him, we are nothing.

With great yearning after His wayward people. He urged,

“But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you, O Israel, the one who formed you says, ‘Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.’  (Isaiah 43:1 – NLT)

Jesus assured us:

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and He is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.” (John 10:27-28 – NLT) 

Do you belong to Him?