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God's Paradise

I don't know about you but I am overdue for a long vacation.  Since I've been married, Rob and I have taken a few short and sweet trips. We have had the privilege of attending some beautiful weddings, the joy of meeting newborn family members, and once a year my company treats my colleagues and all our families to a Hilton Head respite; but we have not had a full week off for the sole purpose of relaxation and to unplug.



After delving into the history of kings and priests in the Biblical books of Kings and Chronicles, I could also use the vacation from the effects of sin. 



A recurring theme is that God's people served Him and were blessed and protected but then fell away and were attacked and suffered hardship. This cycle repeated over and over again. 




How can that be? What of the times of serving Him? Was not a bond made that would forge a lasting devotion?

  



I believe the answer is found in 2 Chronicles 15:3-5. “Now, for a long time, Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest, and without [God's] law. But when they were in trouble and distress, they turned to the Lord of God of Israel, and [in desperation earnestly] sought Him and He let them find Him. In those times there was no peace for him who went out or for him who came in, for great suffering came on all the inhabitants of the lands.” (AMP)



In God's mercy He allowed them to find Him but there was no peace because there was no real covenant. 



How many times have I cried out in trouble simply wanting a solution to my immediate problem? How many times have I neglected the relationship with my Savior while petitioning Him in prayer?



We are fortunate to be granted access to know and commune with Him; yet that is not the end of the story. As we enjoy a relationship with Him, He takes pleasure in us, even in our imperfect state.



Let us not withhold God's joy from Him. Consider the words of Teresa of Avila



“We are so far from esteeming highly enough our soul in which God so delights. Each of us possesses a soul, but we do not realize its value as made in the image of God; there we fail to understand the great secrets it contains. If we reflect, we shall see that our soul is a paradise in which God takes delight. 


Let us think of our soul as resembling a castle formed of a single diamond, or a very transparent crystal containing many rooms, of which some are above, some below, others at the side. In the center, in the very midst of them all, is the principal chamber, in which God and our soul hold their most secret intercourse. What do you imagine that dwelling to be, in which a king, so mighty, so wise, and so pure- containing all good - can come to rest?


Nothing can be compared to the great beauty and capabilities of our soul. However keen our intellects be, we are no more able to comprehend the depth of our soul than we are able to comprehend God, for our soul has been created in the image and likeness of God. It is our soul's likeness to God that makes it possible for us to commune with the God in whose image we have been made.”



How does this imagery change your perception? Do you see yourself as a God's paradise? Do you allow God into the center or depths of your soul? Are you able to invite God into the imperfect parts of yourself, knowing His love is greater?

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