"For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth." ~ Deuteronomy14:2

Friday, September 28, 2012

Pleasant Stone Devotional Meditation: September 28

“My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies” ~ Song of Solomon 6:2

A “green stone” verse whose joy content is only reached as the victory on the Cross was reached --- through suffering. He calls us “a garden inclosed.”

What of the gate to the garden in your life? Is it closed to everyone but Christ? Or is it sometimes closed even to Him? Are there times at the end of the long, heavy days when you feel you have a right to rest in the cool of your own garden that even Christ has no right to come there except to comfort you?

But He comes, sometimes, as we have seen, in the unloveliest of people. And now and then He also comes at the most inconvenient times. We are told to “be instant in season [and] out of season.” When it is convenient and when it is not convenient for us, we are to keep the gate open to the Lord Himself. He Himself has become the door to the abundant life, so that we may “go in and out and find pasture.” Can we do less for Him? Does He have access to your garden at any time He needs it? Is He free to come and go as He likes? Are you and I willing to welcome Jesus when we are so weary or so ill He has to help us stand? And when He comes into our garden, what does He find? Does He find fruit sweet to His taste?

Does the gate of your secret garden open easily to His touch? Do we welcome the hard, bitter tasks because we see that only in those we can really show our love for Him? Or is the gate now and then locked when He comes with one of His most needy ones? He is our Beloved. He gave Himself for us once and for all. He will never leave us nor forsake us. But what does He receive from us? Is He always free to “feed among the lilies” there in your garden? In mine [Eugenia Price, the author’s]?

“…If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

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