Deeper Still by phil mccallum

Press the arrow to listen to Kari Jobe worship with “The More I Seek You”

Scripture
The soft grass is our bed; fragrant cedar branches are the beams of our house, and pleasant smelling firs are the rafters. Song of Songs 1:16-17

Observation
As I read this verse, I imagine a young woman with flowing hair lying on a forest glade, stroking the locks of her lover as the wind blows through the branches above them. They are so lost in love that they do not see that they are homeless. Because they have each other, it does not matter that they have nothing at all.

A mortgage will change all of that! Before long she will want a house and everything to go in it. He will get lost in his career and so long as he has tools in the garage he is happy.  The life they dreamed of living together is now pulling them apart.

It is so important to remember first love in a marriage and in our relationship with the Lord so that we can find the source of true happiness. Contentment is not found in what we have but in who has us. If we are loved then grass can be our bed, cedar branches the beams of our house and fir trees the rafters. When we are loved we can make do.

Application
After 25 years of marriage life gets complicated. There was a day when simply holding my girl friend’s hand made me feel like a wealthy man. That experience is still there if I will be content enough to find it. And even more so, in my relationship with the Lord, there were times I was quite happy to put all my belongings in a suitcase and go where he asked simply because I was loved. That relationship is also still there, if I will be content enough to find it.

Prayer
Father, help me not to miss out on the riches that are around me in the warm hand of my wife in my own or in a song of worship to you. Amen.

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A funny clip from the Ken Davis DVD, “Second Chances” about finding a wife.

Scripture
Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”
“He is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself.

Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death. Genesis 24:62-67

Observation
The meeting of Isaac and Rebekah is an old-fashioned love story. The golden light of sunset gilds the silhouette of the rugged man standing in the green meadow. Camels in majestic strides bear a beautiful maiden who enhances her appeal by a thin veil of mystery. This is the stuff that Harlequin romances are made of. But beyond this scene-perfect romance is something more profound.

Isaac’s life had stalled. His mother Sarah had died and not knowing what to do with the strange emotions inside, Isaac did what many men do, he got busy and went to work. His work took him far from home into a desert where he lived like a high rider. At sunset something would stir him to look at the sunset and think through his day. He was an only child, so undoubtedly he and Sarah were close. Maybe something about the warm sunset reminded him of her. All of these point to a man who was alone, uncomfortable with his emotions of loss, and restlessly wandering unable to settle. His name meant “laughter” but life wasn’t fun for Isaac anymore.

Then came Rebekah. Rebekah had heard of Isaac and without even a photograph to know what he looked like hopped on a camel and took a ride of months, never to return home just to marry him. She was up for an adventure, but more. Rebekah was willing to lay down her life to meet the needs of her husband and to follow him where he was. The voluntary choice of a woman to follow her husband and to conform herself to the needs of her man is the greatest honor any man can receive. It is a sign that he has loved her well.

Rebekah’s gift of surrender to Isaac changed his life forever. When Rebekah arrived on the scene, for the first time Isaac returned home. He went back to the place where his mother had lived. Rebekah helped Isaac to push past the uncomfortable feelings of loss and move beyond them into a whole new life. A man without a woman is not just alone but consistently moving himself into lonely places. It is not good for man to be alone, so God has created woman to bring a man out of the isolation of work and business into a fresh new world of relationships. A wife is a treasure for the wandering is over as she leads a man home.

Application
It is true that a wife must follow her husband, but it is also true that a husband must follow his wife out of the isolation of work and into the relationships of home.

Prayer
Father, help me as a husband to follow my wife as she so incredibly follows me. And I pray that you would lead us home. Amen.

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It was 1965 and this was my family. I’m the little guy on the right. Our family spanned the babyboom. My oldest brother was born in 1946 and me at the end in 1961. My sister doesn’t look very happy because she got in trouble for not standing still for the picture. � Doesn’t my Dad look like a rich man?

Scripture
How joyful are those who fear the Lord—
all who follow his ways!
You will enjoy the fruit of your labor.
How joyful and prosperous you will be!
Your wife will be like a fruitful grapevine,
flourishing within your home.
Your children will be like vigorous young olive trees
as they sit around your table.
That is the Lord’s blessing
for those who fear him.

May the Lord continually bless you from Zion.
May you see Jerusalem prosper as long as you live.
May you live to enjoy your grandchildren.
May Israel have peace! Psalm 128:1-6

Observation
Where are the great rewards found in life? Frequent flyer points? Maybe on the Dow Jones? Or how about Vegas? Nope. Not in any of those places. The world’s greatest reward is not found around the kitchen table with dad at the head, mom wiping spaghetti up from under the high chair, milk drizzling through a the crack in the middle of the table and lots of giggles hemming the edges. Relationships at home are the greatest treasure of life and children are a sign of prosperity.

For the first time in US history the number of nuclear families has dropped below 25 per cent of the population. Nonetheless the word of God is still stands true. The greatest blessing God can give in this life

to a man is his wife

and to a woman is her husband

and to husband and wife are children.

I’m glad that I was born before the microwave replaced the fireplace in the home. My mom planned her meal menu a month in advance and stocked her pantry and freezer with parts of the meal not packages. Mealtime was an event. Our plate always included meat, a green vegetable, a yellow one and salad. Desert followed like clockwork as did family prayers. My mom worked a full-time job to help keep five children fed and my brother in college. How she managed these productions without a microwave I’ll never know. But what an investment she made in our souls as well as our bodies. Those thirty minutes around the maple kitchen table followed by another 30 minutes around the kitchen sink hold the happiest memories of my life. Meal time was the cabinet meeting of our family. My folks weren’t rich but they were wealthy. Their nest eggs smiled at them every night as they dangled their little feet around the table.

I’ve been coaching my son through the process of buying his first home. He and his wife have scrimped and saved for a deposit, but the escalating cost of homes keeps eluding their grasp. Here’s what I told him. What matters most is not the house but the people in it. So God can delay things to get the family ready to move in. The proof of that the family matters more than the house is that in future years you will lose touch of homes that you own, but you will always want to keep in touch with your children. I’ve owned three houses, but I don’t phone their current owners to see how the water heater is holding up or if the pool is clean. Those homes served their season and are now memories. But I phone my children nearly every day, though we are scattered across 10,000 miles from one another. My children not my houses are my reward. I told my son, “Give God time to build what matters and dare to believe that he wants you to have a home more than you do. Just give him time.”

Application
How can we see this blessing delivered in microwave families? Listen to this advice:

How joyful are those who fear the Lord…

May the Lord continually bless you from Zion.

To inherit God’s richest blessings we need to do two things:

First fear the Lord. Remember that one of the prime mandates of being a parent is not to be popular. Our goal is not to keep our children happy. A happy home will come when we become more concerned with what God thinks than with what the neighbor’s kids are doing.

Second stay close to God’s people. God blesses families out of Zion the city of God. The city of God is the local church. The closer we stay to the fellowship of believers the nearer we come to the way God blesses families. It takes more than a whole village to raise a child, it takes a whole and healthy local church.

Prayer
Father, I want to see your blessing around my table. My kids are starting to scatter. It’s good because they are starting to take root and flourish where you have placed them. But I do ask for moments when you fulfill this promise and gather them all around our table in our home. I cannot imagine any reward greater than that. Amen.

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Leslie’s parents, Don and Donna Hemstock, celebrated 50 years of marriage this summer. We were able to join the whole family to be with them.

When the dragon realized that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But she was given two wings like those of a great eagle so she could fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness. There she would be cared for and protected from the dragon for a time, times, and half a time.

Then the dragon tried to drown the woman with a flood of water that flowed from his mouth. But the earth helped her by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that gushed out from the mouth of the dragon. And the dragon was angry at the woman and declared war against the rest of her children—all who keep God’s commandments and maintain their testimony for Jesus. Revelation 12:13-17

Jesus loves his wife. This last book untangles all the knotted threads of the Bible and weaves for us a love story between Christ and his people. From her birth in a nomad tent, to her orphan years in Egypt, to her adoption at Sinai, to the love affair of the desert, to the honeymoon of Canaanland, to the days of infidelity, to the estrangement of exile, to the reconciliation and return to the land, and finally to the birth of their only Son Jesus, and now the waiting and longing.

Jesus loves his wife and cannot wait to be with her. In seasons of revival the church begins to get close to longing for Jesus the way he pines for her.

Jesus loves his bride enough not only to let her be with him, but also to let her go through this season of separation from him. Part of God’s love is to allow his people to experience hardship. How can this be love? Because as any couple weathered by marriage can attest, the hard times are where the love is deepest. It’s only as the dragon is breathing fire that Jesus can show his people that he is with them.

If we are in Christ, we are in the middle of this. What belongs to the church is the privilege of each person who belongs. Jesus proves his love for his people by rescuing them just in time. And those who stay close to God’s people also stay close to the strong arm of Jesus. In the darkest hours God has a habit of showing up.

This calls me to stay in the centre of this love affair. It also stirs me to remind God’s people to respond to Jesus as he reaches out to them. Every act of God’s saving help is another reaching of his hand to people he loves so very much.

Father help me on one hand to preach the message of reality, that suffering is not a sign of your lack of interest but proof of your love for us. Suffering proves that you are a God of real life not of fiction and your salvation shows how much you love us. And help me to stir your people to reach out to you as you reach out to them with your salvation. Amen.

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