Good morning…
“Though I have forwarded your blog to my family members more times than I can count, and though I have silently responded to you in my brain just as many times, I have never sent an actual response.” She admitted, “It’s intimidating to put down thoughts, but I’m responding to the post of Monday. Because of a stomach bug, I am behind on reading your messages, so I opened up this Monday post only moments ago. As a preface, this morning we started our Banquet Bible study of Elijah. Our small group today agreed how God sometimes speaks to us in ‘surround sound,’ and lo and behold, I come home to read your blog and to find that He is doing exactly that with me.”
She proceeded to share her thoughts: “One of the life Bible verses that I long ago committed to memory is Zephaniah 3:17, surely the best (and maybe only) known verse from that book. That verse was among several that were included in our Banquet worship time this morning – only the translation that our worship leader used today had this version of the fourth line, “He will not rebuke you.” That struck me – “rebuke” can have such a negative connotation. I preferred the gentler version which I long ago memorized, “He will be quiet in His love.” I came home intending to look up different translations of the verse. Before doing so, however, I first read your blogs of this week in which two slightly different translations appeared: “He will quiet you by His love” and “With His love, He will calm all your fears.” And I am beginning to see that the word “rebuke” here is meant as an encouragement. We can come to God with everything, and He will not be angry with us but will accept us, and in his full acceptance our fears are quieted. This version matches up with the other translations. We can be confident that He loves us always and takes care of us always, even as we go through inevitable storms.”
Then she shared a story from childhood: “So, the Bible verse was the first bit of surround sound. But it was the photo of Jesus standing on the water, holding out His hand, that stopped me cold. That is a picture that I lived – a scene that has been with me most of my life. One of my earliest remembrances remains completely vivid, to this day. I had to have been no more than 3 or 4, because I learned to swim very early. I was with my grandmother at my grandparents’ farm, on a little hill that led down to a big pond. I must have toddled away from her to explore the dock, which was nothing more than a straight line out into the pond. Of course, I fell in. And that experience in the water is something I have never forgotten – it is a picture which is seared in my mind. I realized I couldn’t breathe and I was in trouble. I looked up, for I knew that was where I would find help. I saw above me the sun rays streaming in through the water, with my short hair floating in strands above me. I don’t know how long it lasted. But I finally saw a hand reaching down toward me. That hand took hold of my floating hair and pulled my little face above water. My grandmother, who was very fat, must have high-tailed faster than she had ever run before to reach the end of that dock. I can only imagine the prayers she must have been sending forth. I don’t even remember what happened after my face emerged.”
She concluded: “As I was telling this memory to others a few years ago, I finally saw in it the grace and bounty of God the Father, who loves me so; the Son, who put on flesh to save me; and the Holy Spirit, who miraculously did His work through my grandmother. How blessed I was to receive that message in the earliest of days – that my God loves me and cares for me! I’ve known that from my youth. I may not always have been able to verbalize it or recognize it, but God has seen me through a lifetime of experiences, good and not-so-good. So, the image stopped me cold because it reminded me of one of the scariest moments I’ve ever experienced. And I was pulled from it. I can only feel gratitude and praise.”
He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along (Psalm 40:2, NLT).
…Sue…
