Monday Morning Cover to Cover - December 29th Hebrews 1 - He holds all things together

I found a teeny tiny eatonville cafe that has wireless. It took about 45 minutes to warm up the computer so I'm staring out the sultry cafe window and what do I see??? S N O W...it's snowing outside. What delight! Pure joy! Baby, it's cold outside. So pristine and peaceful and pure white as snow. Stirs something deep inside of me and tears fall. From seventy degrees to snow. A precious moment for me as we came up to find a wireless connection to post a Monday Morning thought. It's the last Monday morning thought I'll post. It has been such a joy for me to read through the Bible with several of you this year. Here's my last meloncholy post...

DO I LONG TO BE UNDERSTOOD?
DO I LONG TO MATTER?
HE upholds the universe by the word of His power. He holds me up this moment, this circumstance. Or am I trying to hold myself together? “Pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift…” Heb 2:1. Pay attention to what God has said this year. I spent a lot of my Christian life thinking about how much I wanted to be understood, to matter in someone’s life, to belong, and be in charge of something of significance. But, now I long for the One Who understands me and my world; I long for the One Who matters more than anything; I long for the only One in charge of anything---the One Who holds me by the word of His power. It’s no longer about me holding things together.

AM I LIVING IN THIS PRESENT MOMENT?
“Today if you hear HIS Voice, do not harden your hearts.” Heb 3:15
So many of us are where we are this moment because of how we have handled our lives and the hurts over the years. A friend of mine wrote the following note: “I’ve yearned for my parents to give something they could never give me. I’ve sought for my sweetheart something that never fully finishes me and makes me complete. And in my dying age, I’ve tried to make my life a difference as I go to my homecoming and it still doesn’t fill me---even though I’m having a great ministry and an impact on my world---even if I’ve loved well. In all of this, I turn to the One to whom I owe my life, to whom I have found my life, and to Whom I have gladly given my life as an eager gift of all that I have, to the One I have come to adore. I feel grateful. I said He was not good, but He is. I’ve said He’s not here, but He is. I’ve accused Him of not loving, but He does. Everything is upside down, and yet in the face of Him, I see not the face of a scolder but One Who says, ‘Welcome! I’ve been waiting. The feast is prepared.’ “

DO I KNOW A REST THIS VERY DAY LIKE I’VE NOT KNOWN BEFORE?
“Let us strive to enter that rest…for the Word is living and active piercing our souls and discerning our thoughts and intentions. Nothing we do is hidden from His Sight, how foolish to think we are not seen and exposed and known for who we really are. Heb 4:11-13. So, if I don’t have rest in my soul this day, what will I do with that place in my heart? Will I just shove it down or will I enter it and embrace what is not of Him and repent more fully, more widely, more deeply. What I have loved about reading the Word chronologically with you all is that day after day we have opened the Word of God on our journey to read the historical story. But it is the Word of God that has read me and my thoughts and my intentions that don’t match up with His. I read but I am read and rest is revealed or released or recovered. He’s a beautiful God offering rest to each of us in this moment.

WHAT DO YOU WANT MORE THAN DRAWING NEAR TO GOD?
Heb 4:16 “Let us with confidence draw near to the throne of grace.” Whatever weakness we have, He is able to sympathize with that weakness, He says. So, if I choose this day not to draw near to HIM and all that means for my life, then there is something more important to me than following my Christ. Something more important than drawing near to our God. Our goals, our moments reveal what that is. Maybe it is my goals; maybe it is even just ruminating over what is not going right for me. Or, maybe it is a real circumstance that is not going my way. I have to take a look at what is not going my way and recognize that I am trying to make my life work. And God says in Heb 7:25 that when we draw near to Him, He always lives to make intercession for us. What a beautiful promise in our heartaches, in our dreams, in our longings, in our schemes.

WHY ARE MY HANDS DROOPING?
“Lift up your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be out of joint but rather be healed.” Heb 12:12 Don’t let any root of bitterness spring up. Deal with present fray of your heart. The passage goes on to talk about Esau who sold his birthright for what he could see---a single meal. He found no chance to repent later even though he sought for it with tardy tears. Not all tardy tears are good. Tend to today’s tears. All those things that shakes our lives. One day God will remove all things that can be shaken in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.” Heb 12:28. And let’s fall on our face and worship and speak the Word of God to our friends. Heb 13:7

On New Year’s Day (or any day after that), let’s post our final lingering thoughts for Cover to Cover from the Book of Revelations. Would love for you to share your thoughts about your journey in reading through the chronological bible this year.