There is an "iron artist" in the middle of the rolling countryside of upstate New York. He makes huge welded sculptures from scrap metal. I have seen his sculptures in North Carolina, so he must sell nationwide. His home is across the lake from where my parents owned a lake house. I used to kayak or sail across Little York Lake to his yard to peer at the whimsical statues that adorned his roof and landscape.
On a long, country drive with my parents, we stopped at his gallery. It was closed, but the grounds were covered with his art. What a fun life, to take discarded, rusty metal no one wants and turn it into a treasure.
This is what God does.
He takes us as we are: broken, arrogant, rude, selfish, opportunistic, blasphemous, idolatrous, profane, and immoral people and
desires a relationship with us.
“They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him." Malachi 3:17
What an amazing thought! The Creator of the universe wants us to be his treasured possession! This gives me hope that in the end, I will end up traveling the right path. God is at the helm, and if I let Him, He will direct me back to Him.
He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and
acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was
despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and
carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and
afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for
our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
But Moses said to the
Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I
am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your
servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then the
Lord said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the
Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”
Of David. Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the
Lord,
O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your
iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the
pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you
with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. ...
WORD, woman!!!! Might warrior of God.
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