Clinging to God pt.1---------------------We must cling to God in the face of all things.We must CLING to the one reality that does not crumple, the one rock that will not be washed loose in the tide and onslaught of anything.We must CLING to the one reality that will hold firm, though the earth be destroyed and the mountains flung into the sea and the sun put out.We must CLING to the One who holds eternity in His hand, who will not perish in the end, and who has power to save us, too: the One who know us before we existed, in whose thought and by whose hand we exist from moment to moment.He chose and shaped us from our mother's womb to be intimate with Him. This intimacy is what we were made for. Away from it, we feel at odds with existence and even with ourselves. Close to Him, we are at peace. This is the one intimacy of which we need not be afraid, for it will not disappoint or betray us. on God we can loose all the intensity of what we are, all the passion and longing we feel. This is the one surrender we can make in utter trust, knowing that we can rest our whole weight there and nothing will give way.This CLINGING will no doubt make us foolish in the eyes of the world. Even among our fellow Christians, it can make us a little conspicuous. When we speak of it, we are likely to hear talk of neurosis and escape form reality; but the escape into God is a break for freedom! We are, and must be, defectors from the attachments and entanglements of this life. We must flee into Him, hide in Him, just to have our strength renewed and to find the energy to seve Him here and now."Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings...as eagles. They shall run and not be weary; They shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31And the more we CLING, the more we experience strength, not in what we do, but in what God does in us. The more we understand that when we ask, He will give us the words to say. Like Stephen, we ask for the Spirit of God to give us the words we lack...and when the time comes, we have the courage and the words. When the high hillsides loom before us, we are afraid; but by CLINGING and knowing that God is our strength, we find, one step at a time, that we are ascending, not by any doing of our own, but purely by His Grace.By "clinging", we become aware of a closeness with our Lord that can hardly be spoken of...something deeper than words that cannot be really conveyed in speech of any kind; something that joins us to God, that hallows us in an accountable way; something that alters and changes us in a way that seems chemical. For it is making us what we were not and never dared hope to be...apart from Him."....I found Him whom my heart loves. I held Him fast, nor would I let Him go...." Song of Songs 3:4This infusion, this fastening onto God, this barnacle dependency is the very clinging of which I set out to tell: the bonding that makes us one with God. Yet we are more than the barnacles are. For ours is not a helpless tapping onto a powerful Other, but instead an embrace that is completely and unreservedly mutual. He has made us for Himself, and we find our rest in HIM!"In God, alone, there is rest for my soul, From Him comes my safety. With Him, alone, for my rock, my safety, my fortress, I can never fall," Psalm 62:1-2Prayer means...taking our part in the continual conversation, the communion of our spirits with the Eternal Spirit; the acknowledgment of our entire dependence, upon Him, as a child depends upon a trustworthy parent. For prayer is really our whole life toward God: our longing for Him...our whole drive towards Him. Through it...we CLING to Him.~to be continued.....adapted from Clinging: Experience of Prayer by Emilie Griffin
