When God won’t turn loose of us it’s a good thing. He wants something more from us. He becomes redundant, like a gnawing, a constant reminder in our hearts until we say, “OK.”
He wants our attention and reminds us, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Mathew 6:21, NKJV). The Passion Translation reads, “For your heart will always pursue what you value as your treasure.”
Probably what I value most is leaving my love for Jesus to my children in a book. It sounds high and mighty. It sounds boring. It sounds ambitious and very complicated. Maybe I should’ve lived a better life in front of them; then I wouldn’t have to write to them.
What God values most and pursues is us. He asks us to give our utmost for Him. He wants His words in us to be tied to the altar as a sacrifice for Him. There we let Him burn the dross out of our words to be a pure witness (Hebrews 13:15,16, NJKV).
So, God’s gnawing continued. This project that keeps me up at night is very important to me. Will it be that important to anyone else? Who knows. It must be important to God, because He won’t let it go.
I’ve thought of this study and devotional for months. The theme is an intimate relationship with God through Jesus. The journey begins the day we meet the Lord and ends when we see him again.
Many Christians today are missing a deep relationship with God. The power we need to battle the devil is found at the throne. In these last days, it’s going to take a deeper faith than we’ve ever experienced before.
There are more than 100,000 devotional titles listed on Amazon. What is a niche topic that hasn’t been used? How will this be different? What could be different from what has already been written? Wrong questions.
It doesn’t matter what has been written; this is what God wants from me. He reminds me with nightly thoughts and morning challenges that plague my mind. He is ready for this message to be written, whether I’m ready or not.
He jumped the gun on me. As I talked about the idea to a couple of writer friends, He had already lined up the people who would edit, format and design a cover. The gnawing became clear and there was nothing stopping me from writing it but me, myself and I.
I knew this devotional had to be more than a feel-good moment for someone to read in the morning, a cliché of scripture that’s been used over and over. This book will be for those who want a deeper journey into God’s Word.
This devotional will be based on the most controversial and misunderstood book in the Bible. Religious scholars have said this book shouldn’t be in the Bible — Solomon’s Song of Songs.
I say, “Hogwash. How dare anyone think they have the right to delete God’s words from the Bible? It’s a love letter from God and bids us to come into a relationship with Him.”
I talked to one of my friends who has studied and taught the Bible for more than 60 years. I related my ideas to her that this book has 17 metaphors depicting Jesus. She said this was all new to her. I couldn’t believe it. It was my track to run on.
There’s been a lot of prayer and, after three attempts, formatting and re-formatting, I started writing this book for the fourth time. These words will be laid on the altar for God to burn the dross away in order to have a pure witness.
Final brushstroke: When God makes plans for our lives, all our reasoning is thrown out the window. It doesn’t compute. And when God won’t let go of us, it means He wants more for us.
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