Hebrews 8:10 (NASB) For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after these days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and I will write them upon their hearts. And, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Hebrews 12:1-2 (NASB) Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
When I had just turned thirteen years old, we moved into what was our first real home in around eight years. In no time, I became close friends with Kathy, a twelve-year-old girl who lived just two doors down. We often wrote notes, which we passed to each other in the school hallway (or in front of our
little sisters just to annoy them). We even made up our own alphabet as a safeguard in case anyone intercepted our letters. Fifty-three and a half years later Kathy and I still send longhand letters to each other through the snail mail regularly. I always look forward to hearing from her. We often disagree
about things for our views on the world are radically different. That’s okay. After all, I am five-months and four days older than she is. Give her time. Kathy is very, very smart. She will learn! Besides, I learn a lot from what Kathy has to say too.
Kathy may be younger than I am, but we both really feel some age in our hands. Writer’s cramp takes some of the pleasure out of sharing our hearts on paper, but it will not stop us from doing so because our friendship is highly valued. At least it won’t stop us until our hand cramping gets to the point where
we can no longer hold our pens. Then I guess we will have to rely on phone calls or the internet since we live so far apart.
In some ways, our desire to communicate with each other reminds me of the Ancient of Days. God enjoys hearing from us, and it is very important to Him that we read His letters and hear His voice. Unfortunately, there are far too many times when God has to deal with writer’s cramp too. Obviously,
He does not get the same sort of writer’s cramp that Kathy and I do. There is nothing weak about the hand of Almighty God! You see, some other words that are synonymous with the word ‘cramp ’are the words ‘pain and hamper’.
God designs wonderful masterpieces for His Book of Life. Then, along come people with far less experience who try to change the plot and the characters themselves. The kind of writer’s cramp God has to deal with is when stubborn people decide to be pains and scribble contradictions on their own
hearts or attempt to etch them on the hearts of others. As the author of our faith, He removes dirty blots, which hamper the perfection of His creation. He cleans those blots with the pure blood of Jesus. Some of His characters do not even appreciate His act of love. I am sure that brings Him pain.
Because He loves us, the Lord continues to write on our hearts despite the fact that our rebellion, indifference, pride, and selfishness hamper the outcome of many of the chapters of our lives. He wants us to read what He has to say. He does not want us to believe the tainted words of Satan, the incompetent wannabe who thinks he should rule the universe. God does the writing. His letters are a blessing to hold in our hearts. It is our duty to pay attention to what He has to say. He wants us to accept His truth while the Book of Life remains open. Epic adventures begin when we listen to God.
(Paying attention to what God said was exactly how Samuel started living out his amazing life!)
Samuel 3:7-10 (NIV) Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. The Lord called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” Samuel went and lay down in his place. The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
Read and heed God’s Word. Child of God, do not let the enemy cramp your ‘righting’ style!