I am casting bread upon the waters here, hoping it washes up near one booking passage like Jonah fleeing from God ✞ I want to tell you the Lord is offering you a second chance.
Or perhaps this letter is coming alongside someone downcast on the Emmaus Road ✞ Someone in need of a word that will rekindle the fire in their heart.
Maybe it is intercepting a worn out believer stumbling along like Elijah, running from the threats of this Jezebel Age ✞ Someone needing to hear God whisper their name and reaffirm their calling.
✞
I'm paraphrasing Paul, from near the end of his second letter to the Corinthians: I write this to you in the sight of God as one in Christ. Everything I write here, dear friends, is for your strengthening. Yet, I am afraid, should we meet, I may not find you as God wants you to be or where God wants you to be.
If this letter is finding one of the scattered sheep of God, then please listen, for the Good Shepherd is calling you - calling as He has since the day Adam hid from Him: 'Return to me,' declares the LORD Almighty, 'and I will return to you' (Zec 1:3). Won't you please respond? "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you" (James 4:8).
In these harsh days, many Christians have made two regrettable mistakes. First, they fell out of the habit of gathering with the saints. Then they fell into the habit of not gathering. Yet lawlessness is increasing, so don't let your love grow cold! (Matt 24:12) Darkness overtakes those who don't continue to walk in the light (Jn 12:35). But, thankfully, "if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).
That last quote tells us the light of life leads us into fellowship - because Christ is in and among His many-membered Body, as it is written, "Yahweh is for me among those who help me" (Ps 118:7). He promised to not leave us orphans; He keeps that promise through the Holy Spirit. If you are out of fellowship, I invite you to visit us. You would be welcome! By His grace, I dare say He, via His anointing, is present in our meetings. Come taste again and see that the Lord is still good! (Ps 34:8)
But perhaps you are in regular fellowship and still sense a "divine discontent". What if your unease is God ordained? "The angel who talked with me woke me up, like someone awakened from sleep" (Zec 4:1). What if what's stirring in you is a deeper hunger for God, from God? "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness" (Matt 5:6). "The appetite of laborers works for them; their hunger drives them on" (Prov 16:26).
We know Jesus is "The Way" (Jn 14:6) and Christianity was first referred to as "The Way" (Act 24:14). I say it's time we be on our way! By His grace, we'll "go from strength to strength, till we each appear before God in Zion" (Ps 84:7). Come travel with our caravan, for glad songs of salvation are heard in our tents (Ps 118:15). Yes, the LORD our God is in our midst! "He exults over us with singing" (Zeph 3:17).
