“When I open my heart to receive You
in times of peace and quiet, this is as
it should be, but if I close my heart
to You when I have lost my way and
my life is a mess, I have failed to know
the truth, for these differ only for me
but not for You, for Your heart opens
to me with a single undivided love.”
Hello, my friends!
I read the passage above this morning and thought, “this is exactly what I feel God has been teaching me!” To keep my heart open to the heart of God. And that His heart never closes.
Because too often, mine does. Any time I am afraid. Any time I feel threatened. Any time I am insecure. I close off, armor up, and self-protect. And my heart grows cold and dry.
Proverbs tells us to guard our hearts because they are the wellspring of life. But the truth is, my way of guarding and God’s way are completely opposite. God’s way of guarding is to open our hearts even wider. Which can feel terrifying. It requires an act of faith. It presumes that God’s love will be enough.
Isaiah 58:11 says,
The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
These are the living waters. When we close ourselves off from their divine source, our hearts grow parched. But when we stay open, we are well watered. The Spring never fails!
But there is another mistake we make in our misaligned guarding. And that is that when we receive that love from God, we withhold it from others. We dam up the river of our hearts, and as a result, the waters grow murky and stagnate. Because the river is meant to flow and that means both receiving and giving.
And there are so many today who are in desperate need of God’s love. And you are the vessels of it. You are the branches bearing the fruit. Stay open! Receive first, and then give. This is the way it works in God’s economy. We love because He first loved us.
To live in this way takes such courage. But this is the assignment we’ve been given. And here’s the icing on the cake…when we live this way we experience joy. It transcends our circumstances. It is our strength. It guards our hearts. And it brings such satisfaction. As Jesus tells us, whoever drinks this water will never thirst again.
We’re gathering again this Sunday evening just south of Main Beach at 7 PM. We’d love to see you there! Bring your beach chair and a colorful mask and let’s enjoy the gift of being together in the splendor of God’s creation.
I sure love you guys!
Jeff