This morning... God continues building on yesterday's study... cling... by having me pick up a compilation... a collection of works... on prayer by Andrew Murray... one book amid many... one bought several months ago... only the first few paragraphs read...
Today... the time to read... the first two chapters... centered on Christ's invitation to abide... a word that echoes the heart of cling... only to a greater... and deeper... degree...
The psalmist... with the clinging soul... cried out...
O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
Psalm 63:1
A clinging soul... the result of a desire to be near... with... the One who satisfies...
But clinging... is one distinct entity... affixed... to another...
a vine... on a wall...
a Muppet... on Jude Law...
a soul... on God...
The invitation to abide... its picture... as seen in Jesus's words... is one... as part... of another...
"...I am the vine; you are the branches.
Whoever abides in me and I in him,
he it is that bears much fruit,
for apart from me you can do nothing. ..."
John 15:5
ESV
A branch... an offshoot from a vine... lives with the vine... by the power... of the vine... they are essentially one... a branch cut off... dies... but the branch attached... not only lives... but grows... and bears fruit... just as the vine...
Different than the clinging vine on a wall... no life shared... no thirst fulfilled... only support... upholding...
My soul clings to the you;
your right hand upholds me.
Psalm 63:8
The clinging is good... but the abiding... is better...
The psalmist... his soul still thirsty... even in the clinging...
The psalmist... his soul still thirsty... even in the clinging...
It is in the abiding... through the work of Jesus... His crucifixion... and resurrection... where we can receive the Spirit... the same life giving force... that connected Him to the Father... and us to Him...
"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,
streams of living water flow from within him."
John 7:37-38
The same lesson taught... to the woman at the well... the one with a thirst...
"Everyone who drinks this [well] water will be thirsty again,
but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.
Indeed, the water I give him will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
John 4:13-14
Lord... teach me... to cling... and... abide... fully...
Abide... an option unavailable to the psalmist... the privilege... and pleasure... we as Believers... have in Jesus...
... it is only the abiding that can really satisfy the thirsty soul and give to drink of the rivers of pleasure that are at His right hand. --- Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ
Lord... teach me... to cling... and... abide... fully...
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