The flu has hit our home and of course has hit the little guys ALL at the same time! Oh my! The past 2 nights have been interesting! I will just leave it at that! :) When I have sick children, especially babies, I feel literally sick myself! Emotionally it really wears on me! I lay awake and listen to them coughing and I touch their hot little bodies and watch them sleep in my arms and I ache and long for them to be well!
Last night, as I was holding my 20 month old just laying on me because he felt so miserable! I began to have an image of how God feels when we are "ill".
Not ill in body, but ill in our spirit. When our bodies are sick, we do all that we can to make them feel better if possible! We will do things to get fevers down, take away the headaches, figure out a way to stop the cough or runny nose. Why? Because it is just plain miserable to have our flesh feel so "out of order"! But what do we do with our hearts when we are not living side by side with Jesus? Do we look and search with urgency to find something to "heal" us because we are so miserable? Do we even realize how "ill" we are or are we so used to being sick, that eventually we just get used to living for ourselves without giving a second thought to anyone else around us?
I'm not necesarrily talking about those big whopper, noticeable to all, mistakes! (Although those can count too!) I am talking about the things that subtly steal and pull us away from our first love. For me, it can be sleep, (or lack there of), computer, just plain selfishness and focusing on my needs instead of those around me. There are way to many others to mention!
As I pictured this image of me with MY child, I pictured Christ with us. Just as I love my babies soooo much and ache when they ache, God does the same with us. When His children hurt, He hurts! It says in Psalms 56:8 that "He holds our tears in a bottle". That means He cares about us and He loves us!
The romans had a tradition during funerals or mourning that they would literally collect their tears in a bottle and keep them for rememberence. Just as I desire for my child to feel well, Christ desires for us to be well! Our hearts more than our physical bodies! God desires for our hearts to be right more than our bodies, the body is temporary!
2Corinthians 4:18 says, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Our bodies are temporary, our souls are eternal!
God provides those of us who are healthy, an immune system to heal us when we are ill. He also provided us a way to heal our hearts! His word and just plain talking to him! (That would be called prayer!) When we turn to Him, we will have ALL we need!
Just as we grab the motrin or tylenol when our bodies are sick, we can look to the world for things to "heal" our sick hearts, but they are only temporary fixes! We can look to the world to satisfy us through material things, TV, computer, over or under eating, focusing on our outward appearance, getting more "stuff", shopping, even looking to our husbands instead of God for our worth,(something else I will get into another time!), and many other things. As we do that, God looks at us lovingly and aches! He knows what we need!
Just as our immune systems knows what to do in our fleshly bodies! ( That's why we get fevers! ) We are fighting an infection of some kind. Our hearts need Him and only Him! Love Him with all your heart and begin to allow Him to heal your heart! Just as we desire so much for our children to be well, God desires us to be "well" and it hurts Him when we are not! He is willing to do whatever it takes! He loves us and wants us as close to Him as we can possibly be while on this earth! Just as it says in James 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Why do we do this? Because He knows what we need to stay healthy on this earth so we can be with Him forever in eternity!
He is only a simple word away, JESUS! Just call on His name! He will not turn His ear, but will listen and be there to heal you! Read what John 14:13 says, And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. The Bible DOES not lie! It is the infallible word of God! God cannot lie! Trust Him! Believe Him! Follow Him! He loves you, you are His child and He is holding you!
