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Chakra Crystals; Imagery of absorbing and processing energy
I have been working on balancing my heart chakra. With the techniques I’ve been using to try to get out of this flare up, they say to pay attention to the words and phrases you use associated with your symptoms. There can be messages or clues in them. I’ve written about how I’m having trouble with acid reflux. I have had trouble with acid reflux over the years as part of having Eosinophilic Esophagitis and Gastroparesis…but I don’t think I’ve ever thought of it as having heartburn. I always thought of it as reflux…and I wrote a post about how I was using the word reflux recently and it made me think of the word influx…and how an influx can lead to a reflux…and how all of that has to do with processing. And about a week ago, for the first time I started thinking of it as heartburn. I think my mind was trying to communicate something to me…a new way of thinking about it that can be helpful. It’s called heartburn because you have pain in your chest but the pain is actually in your esophagus, not your heart. But it does feel like your heart is burning. And that helped me think in terms of my heart energy…it’s burning…in pain…not nourished. So I was listening to heart chakra meditations trying to balance my heart chakra and was having trouble…or feeling resistance to balancing, so I thought I would try getting a set of chakra crystals to see if they would help.
When I got the crystals out of the bag, I immediately felt an energy shift…a balancing of this energy I’ve been trying to work with during the flare up. That was really encouraging. It was like the crystals absorbed some of my energy…and I felt a healing energy flow into my body from the crystals, too. I only know a little bit about using the crystals, but they do absorb people’s energy. And you have to clear the energy out of the crystals regularly. Some people have had the experience of the crystals cracking if they take on too much energy. And that made me think, “That’s what my body is doing!” It clicked. There’s just too much energy…I can’t process it…and I am having trouble clearing it. What I’m trying to say is that feeling the crystals absorb my energy helped me see how my body absorbs energy that is in my environment…and it absorbs too much. I’ve written before that I am a Highly Sensitive Person and am neurodivergent. I did not learn to meditate until I was 29 years old. Up until then, my mind/body was going through the process of absorbing too much energy without clearing it and getting sick. Then I learned to meditate and learned how to process and clear energy. I did really well for about 12 years, and then I started having this flare up. Something connected with, or triggered, unconscious energy…unconscious energy is from when you were 2 years old or younger…which was a time when you didn’t have words to put with things…and you won’t have clear memories of what happened. But it’s during those years that you form the pathways for how you are going to process information for the rest of your life…unless you can learn how to get new pathways. So I’m trying to get my mind to update to the present moment and process this energy with the new pathways I have instead of with the pathways I had when I was little.
So the point I’m trying to make is that now I have a good visual…good imagery…of what I’ve been working with during this flare up. It’s like there is a tank, or balloon, of energy that is holding a lot of toxic energy in it. It has been triggered and all of this stuff has bubbled up and is causing serious symptoms. I am working with titration with this energy and it has been helping…trying to let a little bit of steam off of it at a time…taking things in steps. But when I felt the crystals absorb the negative energy and then almost push back at me with a healing energy…I realized that those healing energies in my body are not as active as they should be. And again, I’m talking as a patient, not a practitioner…so I hope I am explaining it correctly. Peter Levine talks about 2 vortexes…a trauma vortex and a healing vortex. And you need to strengthen the healing vortex in order to be able to get out of the trauma vortex. I might not be saying that correctly. But I think what’s going on for me is that the trauma vortex related to this energy that has been triggered is stronger than the healing vortex. The healing properties in the crystals were very strong. So I am going to keep working with techniques for building capacity and resilience…and working on developing that sense of feeling safe…and see if I can strengthen my healing vortex.
In John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, in the section about Providence, he was writing about how “Though human life is beset with innumerable evils, the righteous, trusting to Divine Providence, feel perfectly secure.” In the 10th paragraph, he writes about that as humans we are beset by many ills/threats in our external environment, and that within our own bodies, because they are susceptible to illness, we “cannot move without carrying along with us many forms of destruction.” He was talking about that life is interwoven with death. He writes about how Christians can still feel perfectly secure in the care of God even though they are in the midst of these threats. So he was making a different point…but sometimes a phrase will make you think of an image…so this isn’t exactly what he was talking about…but I kept remembering that phrase, “cannot move without carrying along with us many forms of destruction” because that is what it feels like to have PTSD. I’m carrying around all of this compressed energy…like in that video I posted with Peter Levine when he is demonstrating with the sphere that expands and contracts. The difficulty with these energies is that anything can trigger it, but you cannot regulate it. So it feels like I am walking around carrying this destructive energy that could bubble up at any time. Before I had the tools to know how to work with it, I just kept locking it away…or compressing it. Thankfully now I have learned a lot about how to work with this energy and have hopes of being able to heal. And it really is in knowing that I am in the loving care of the Good Shepherd that I can feel totally safe and secure…which helps create an environment for healing. I just thought it was an interesting image…and you might connect with it if you are struggling with the same thing…that feeling of not being in control of your own body…having those energies that are so harmful but you are having trouble resolving. So it feels like you are carrying destructive energies around with you…but thankfully those energies can be transformed and released…and there are techniques that help you process things in the moment and prevent those energies from building up in the future. So I’m going to keep working on strengthening that healing vortex and hope to see improvements soon.
Links: John Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion – Christian Classics Ethereal Library
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Notes/Outline of G. Campell Morgan’s Commentary on Isaiah 40:1-11; Imagery of Fixing Our Eyes on God, Peace after Judgment, and the Highway of the Lord
I was looking up commentaries on Isaiah 55, and I found a commentary by G. Morgan Campbell. Here is a link to it: The Bible Book of Isaiah – Commentary by Rev. G. Campbell Morgan (Full Text and PDF). Morgan starts Part C of his commentary at Isaiah 40, which is the first chapter in the second section of Isaiah. The first section (Isaiah 1-39) contains Prophecies of Judgment. The second section (Isaiah 40-66) contains Prophecies of Peace. I think it will be helpful to start here at Isaiah 40 and make some notes on Morgan’s commentary, which will lead up to Isaiah 55 and then we can keep talking about Isaiah 55 and the imagery of the fountain that we have been working with. I will only make a few notes or an outline of these chapters. Most of it will be making an outline of quotes of Morgan’s commentary. That is how I study. It’s important to read things in the words of the authors…exactly how they wrote it…because God was with them showing them insights into the scriptures. So that is why I use quotes…because the way they say it is so powerful. It helps me to make an outline of the main points because there is so much information in these commentaries. After reading through it, I make an outline to help process the information. Most of my outline will be quotes from Morgan so you can read it in his words. I hope you find it helpful. This part of his commentary is about Isaiah 40:1-11, which says:
Comfort for God’s People
1Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
3A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord a ;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God. b
4Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6A voice says, “Cry out.”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
“All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
7The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
8The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”
9You who bring good news to Zion,
go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem, c
lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
say to the towns of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
10See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power,
and he rules with a mighty arm.
See, his reward is with him,
and his recompense accompanies him.
11He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.
Prophecies of Peace:
“We now commence the study of the Prophecies of Peace which, like the Prophecies of Judgment, fall into three sections, dealing in turn with the 1) purpose of peace; 2) the Prince of peace; and 3) the programme of peace.”
Theme: When God’s judgment is accomplished, peace will be the result.
- After the prophecies of judgment, Isaiah is instructed to comfort God’s people…telling them that judgment leads to peace
- “The opening words of this section, ‘Comfort ye, comfort ye My people,’ reveal the burden (or theme) of all that is to follow to the end of the book. As in the first division all the messages were based upon the fact that the judgment of God proceeds to peace, so in this third, the master-thought is that of the establishment of peace by the processes of judgment. The supreme note of the first division was that of judgment. The supreme note of the last is that of peace.”
- “In the prophecies of judgment the final outlook was upon world-wide desolation, followed by world-wide restoration. The last words of that section were, ‘Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.’ The first words of the present division are, ‘Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God.’ The connection and relation is self-evident.”
- “In all the earlier messages the dominant thought was that the purpose of judgment is peace. The burden (or theme) of this last division is that when judgment is accomplished, peace will be the result.”
The Highway:
- “In figurative language the prophet then described the way by which Jehovah would proceed to the accomplishment of this purpose.”
- “the Lord is to pass through the wilderness, and find in the desert a highway for His progress.” Morgan calls it “the highway of His purpose”
- All obstructions will be removed: “The valleys of depression are to be lifted; and the obstructing mountains and hills are to be lowered; all is to be made straight and plain for the progress of Jehovah.”
- “Without entering into any details, the prophet then declared what the coming of Jehovah would mean. His glory would be revealed, and all flesh would see. The absolute certainty of these things lay in the fact that the mouth of the Lord had spoken it.”
The Commission: Ascend the high mountain to the place of vision and declare with strength, “Behold, your God.”
- “The final movement in the Prologue is one which chronicles the fact of the commission given to the prophet, and of his obedience thereto.
- Two things were necessary to the declaration of the message.
- 1) Isaiah should ascend the high mountain, that is, that he should come to the place of vision.
- 2) Isaiah should deliver his message with strength, and without fear
- “The whole burden of the message was then given to him in the one brief and inclusive declaration, ‘Behold, your God’.”
- “The eyes of the people had all too long been fixed, either upon their foes, or upon their own princes and rulers. The former had proved too strong for the latter. The latter had failed to fulfil their duties toward God and toward His people. Therefore the supreme and inclusive word of the prophecy of hope and comfort was, ‘Behold, your God’.”
- Isaiah immediately gave utterance to a twofold truth concerning Jehovah:
- 1) The Mighty One: Who is coming for active administration, and Whose might is irresistible
- This settles the question of the foes, who will be unable to stand before Him
- 2) Shepherd: is prophetic of the restoration of the people who are scattered and wounded
So we see here God instructing Isaiah to comfort His people that the process of judgment that had been prophesied would result in peace. Their desolation would be restored. And it is explained that the Lord will accomplish this restoration by finding a highway that has been prepared for Him in the desert…the highway of His purpose…the highway by which He would accomplish His purpose. All of this is imagery that we can work with. Envision the desolation…envision the mountains and the valleys…then envision everything being leveled out…the mountains are brought low…and the valleys are lifted up. As Campbell said, “all is to be made straight and plain for the progress of Jehovah.”
Throughout the Bible, there are many times that God called His people to return to Him or look to Him. Isaiah was here instructed to tell the people, “Behold, your God.”
The quote that really stood out to me when I was reading this commentary today was that the eyes of the people had been fixed on their foes and their princes…on something other than God. I think what he is talking about is that they had been longing for deliverance and had been looking anxiously at their foes and had been looking to their princes. Isaiah says, “Behold, your God.” Look to Him for deliverance. Behold Him coming to you on the highway of His purpose. In the Old Testament, when a prophet gave Israel a declaration from God, they could rest assured that whatever God declared would surely happen…they could rest in the certainty of it…they could know that it would happen simply because God had said that it would. So we are learning to fix our eyes on Him and trust in Him…trust in His Word.
But again, what I was saying about the quote that their eyes had been fixed too long in the wrong place…it made me think of the word fixed in a new way. That happens a lot when I am studying. A word that I thought I was familiar with…or thought I had a good concept of, will register in a new way…and I can form a new image associated with it in my mind. The imagery I am using gets new depth. Something about the way Morgan wrote that part of his commentary helped me think of the word “fixed” in terms of being “fixated” on something. So I started thinking about how that before we can fix our eyes on the unseen…we first need to check and see what our eyes are fixed, or fixated, on now. God saw that Israel’s eyes were fixed somewhere other than on Him…and they needed to look up and turn their attention to Him. So we can take time in our meditation today and think about that – What are our eyes fixed on? They might be fixed or fixated on something we are worried about. I am still struggling to get out of this flare up and my mind/eyes stay fixed on my health. Take time to think about if you are fixated on anything. Then remember the words of God to Isaiah, “Behold, your God.” Look up to God for help. See Him there on His throne waiting to hear from you. That’s one of the most amazing parts of praying…that when you look up to God to ask Him for help…He is already looking at you. He never takes His eyes off of you. So He is there waiting for you to ask Him. And He is ready to help you. He will show you something or give you a new insight. And when I was working with this imagery today, God was showing me that if my eyes are fixated on something else, they can’t also be fixed on Him. So I first have to develop some flexibility of thinking and start lifting my eyes up to Him…and then fix them on Him. Fix in the sense of stopping on Him…you’re looking around and you stop when you are looking at God…or you set your eyes on Him could be another way to say it. I can still think about my health…but I will think about it from a perspective of having my eyes fixed on God while I am thinking about it.
There is a hymn that is based on Isaiah 40:1 called, “Comfort, Comfort Ye My People” by Johann Olearius, Translated by Catherine Winkworth – Learning to Live by Faith. You could listen to it for your meditation time with that imagery of a warm, healing light shining…or the imagery of the highway of the Lord…looking up and waiting for Jesus.
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“Comfort, Comfort Ye My People” by Johann Olearius, Translated by Catherine Winkworth
Hymnal Page Scan: Psalms and Hymns to the Living God page 272 | Hymnary.org
Keyboard Recording:
1. Comfort, comfort ye my people,
Speak ye peace, thus saith our God.
Comfort those who sit in darkness,
Mourning neath their sorrows’ load.
Speak ye to Jerusalem
Of the peace that waits for them,
Tell her that her sins I cover,
And her warfare now is over.2. Yes, her sins our God will pardon,
Blotting out each dark misdeed;
All that well deserved his anger
He will no more see nor heed.
She hath suffered many a day,
Now her griefs have passed away;
God will change her pining sadness
Into ever-springing gladness.3. For the herald’s voice is crying
In the desert far and near,
Bidding all to true repentance,
Since the kingdom now is here.
Oh, that warning cry obey,
Now prepare for God a way;
Let the valleys rise to meet him,
And the hills bow down to greet him.4. Make ye straight what long was crooked,
Make the rougher places plain;
Let your hearts be true and humble,
As befits His holy reign;
For the glory of the Lord
Now o’er earth is shed abroad,
And all flesh shall see the token
That his Word is never broken. -
“Perfect Love Drives out Fear” 1 John 4:8; Imagery of Fear as a Snake from MacLaren’s Sermon “Love and Fear”
I was looking through sermons by Alexander MacLaren to study more about Isaiah 55. And then I found a sermon called “Love and Fear” and it has a lot of imagery in it. So I’m going to write about it today. It goes along with what we have been talking about with God’s offer of salvation. In my previous posts we have been talking about people who are thirsting for God. They have that longing after Him….a restlessness because of their sense of being separated off from God by sin. In this sermon, MacLaren is talking about things in terms of a sense of dread that a person feels because of the sense of their sinfulness.
1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”
Some commentators say that “perfect” love refers to the love of God that dispels fear in the same way that light dispels darkness. In MacLaren’s sermon, when he says “perfect love,” instead of talking in terms of God’s love directed towards us driving out fear, he will be talking in terms of human love and fear directed towards God…he says that the reason there is still fear remaining in the heart of a Christian is because the person only has a partial love towards God that leaves room for fear to remain. He gives an image that represents the experience of many professing Christians…the image is of the heart…there are 2 lodgers within the heart: a partial love to God lives within the heart next to a fellow-lodger, fear…which a perfect love should have driven out already. I thought that was an interesting image. If there is not enough love in the heart, it will not be able to drive out the fear. Take time to examine your own heart…how much love is there? How much fear?
In his sermon, MacLaren talks about 1) the empire of fear, 2) the mission of fear, and 3) the expulsion of fear.
1) The Empire of Fear
MacLaren says, “Fear is a shrinking apprehension of evil as befalling us, from the person or thing which we dread.” In other words, Fear is an awareness (or anticipation) of judgment befalling us that causes us to shrink or tremble…and it’s an awareness of judgment coming from the person or thing we dread…which in this case would be God. He says, “My text brings us face to face with the solemn thought that there are conditions of human nature, in which the God who ought to be our dearest joy and most ardent desire becomes our ghastliest dread.” The root of such a change from viewing God as our dearest joy to viewing Him as our greatest dread “lies in the simple consciousness of discordance between God and man, which is the shadow cast over the heart by the fact of sin. God is righteous; God righteously administers His universe.” We know that God will punish sin…and we know that we have sinned. “Therefore there lies within people…the slumbering cold dread that between [them] and God things are not as they ought to be. I believe, for my part, that such a dumb, dim consciousness of discord attaches to all men, though it is often smothered, often ignored, and often denied. But there it is; the snake hibernates, but it is coiled in the heart all the same; and warmth will awake it. Then it lifts its crested head, and shoots out its forked tongue, and venom passes into the veins. A dread of God is the ghastliest thing in the world, the most unnatural, but universal, unless expelled by perfect love.” MacLaren is saying that our dread of God…that fear…must be driven out so that God will be our greatest joy rather than our greatest dread. The image he uses here of a snake is very helpful to work with. MacLaren says that dread of God…this slumbering cold dread that things are not right between you and God…lies within the heart like a coiled snake that is hibernating. But warmth will awaken it…then it lifts its head and shoots its venom throughout your veins…so now that dread is no longer cold and slumbering…but awake and active and coursing through your veins. The only thing that will dispel that fear and cause that snake to disappear and take away the effects of that venom of dread in your system is perfect love. You can envision that perfect love either as you having a perfect love towards God…perfect in terms of complete, not a partial love so that it allows God’s love to flow in freely…and also in terms of God’s perfect love towards you…perfect in terms of sinless and perfectly holy as only God can love someone. Envision God’s perfect love filling your heart and then coursing through your veins, dissolving that dread and making it disappear. Now…only God’s love is flowing through you. Perfect love has driven out fear. And that is the condition God wants us to be in after we are saved….remembering that if you are saved, you no longer have to face Him as a Judge…you no longer face judgment…you have been pardoned.
Take time to think about if you have any dread of God in your heart, and if so…how much dread do you have? See if there is still that snake there. Then pray to God about it. Ask Him to help you feel His love for you. Ask Him to drive out that fear.
MacLaren says, “Arising from that discomforting consciousness of discord there come, likewise, other forms and objects of dread. For if I am out of harmony with God, what will be my fate in the midst of a universe administered by Him, and in which all are His servants? Oh! I sometimes wonder how it is that godless men front the facts of human life, and do not go mad. For here are we, naked, feeble, alone, plunged into a whirlpool, from the awful vortices of which we cannot extricate ourselves. (I think he is talking about being born into this fallen world in a sinful condition.) There foam and swirl all manner of evils, some of them certain, some of them probable, any of them possible, since we are at discord with Him who wields all the forces of the universe, and wields them all with a righteous hand…Then there arises up another object of dread, which, in like manner, derives all its power to terrify and to hurt from the fact of our discordance with God; and that is “the shadow feared of man,” that stands shrouded by the path, and waits for each of us — (death). God; God’s universe; God’s messenger, Death-these are facts with which we stand in relation, and if our relations with Him are out of gear, then He and all of these are legitimate objects of dread to us.”
Next, MacLaren warns us that there is something else that casts out perfect fear – and that is perfect levity. Merriam-Webster defines levity as “Lack of seriousness; Levity refers to a lack of seriousness or a tendency to treat serious matters in a non-serious way.” Remember how MacLaren said that dread is like a slumbering, hibernating snake? Apprehensions of the disharmony between us and God warms and awakens that snake and feelings of dread spread throughout our body. But what MacLaren is saying here is that we need to be careful to take our condition seriously and respond to those apprehensions of judgment correctly…because if we do not…and we take matters lightly…our levity can keep that snake in a slumbering, hibernating condition…and prevent it from being awakened. We will stop responding to the warning signals that are there to drive us closer to God…to seek salvation from Him. MacLaren says that some people feel neither love nor fear towards God. “They never think about Him, or trouble their heads concerning either Him or their relations to Him or anything that flows therefrom. It is a strange faculty that we all have, of forgetting unwelcome thoughts and shutting our eyes to the things that we do not want to see.” They “shuffle out of sight with inconsiderateness the real facts of their condition.” He says, “Ah! dear friends, do not rest until you face the facts, and having faced them, have found the way to reverse them.” He says, “A man who is in discord with God has reason to be afraid, and I come to you with the old exhortation of the prophet, ‘Be troubled, ye careless ones.’ For there is nothing more ignoble or irrational than security which is only made possible by covering over unwelcome facts. ‘Be troubled’; and let the trouble lead you to the Refuge.”
So we need to be careful not to be overwhelmed by dread…and at the same time must be watchful to make sure we are taking our condition seriously. We must let those feelings of dread lead us to the Refuge…Christ. We must receive that free and full salvation and be reconciled to God. We must be sure to draw close to God…have a complete love towards Him…and feel His perfect love flowing through us and driving out fear.
2) The Mission of Fear
Next, MacLaren explains The Mission of Fear. The way he writes it is very powerful so I’m going to quote that paragraph so you can read it in his words:
John uses a rare word in my text when he says “fear hath torment.” “Torment” does not convey the whole idea of the word. It means suffering, but suffering for a purpose; suffering which is correction; suffering which is disciplinary; suffering which is intended to lead to something beyond itself. Fear, the apprehensions of personal evil, has the same function in the moral world as pain has in the physical. It is a symptom of disease, and is intended to bid us look for the remedy and the Physician. What is an alarm bell for, but to rouse the sleepers, and to hurry them to the refuge? And so this wholesome, manly dread of the certain issue of discord with God is meant to do for us what the angels did for Lot—to lay a mercifully violent hand on the shoulder of the sleeper, and shake him into aroused wakefulness, and hasten him out of Sodom, before the fire bursts through the ground, and is met by the fire from above. The intention of fear is to lead to that which shall annihilate it by taking away its cause. There is nothing more ridiculous, nothing more likely to destroy a man, than the indulgence in an idle fear which does nothing to prevent its own fulfillment. Horses in a burning stable are so paralyzed by dread that they cannot stir, and get burnt to death. And for a man to be afraid-as everyone ought to be who is conscious of unforgiven sin-for a man to be afraid and there an end, is absolute insanity. I fear; then what do I do? Nothing. That is true about hosts of us. What ought I to do? Let the dread direct me to its source, my own sinfulness. Let the discovery of my own sinfulness direct me to its remedy, the righteousness and the Cross of Jesus Christ. He, and He alone, can deal with the disturbing element in my relation to God. He can “deliver me from my enemies, for they are too strong for me.” It is Christ and His work, Christ and His sacrifice, Christ and His indwelling Spirit that will grapple with and overcome sin and all its consequences, in any man and in every man—taking away its penalty, lightening the heart of the burden of its guilt, delivering from its love and dominion. All three of these things are the barbs of the arrows with which fear riddles heart and conscience. So my fear should proclaim to me the merciful “name that is above every name,” and drive me as well as draw me to Christ, the Conqueror of sin, and the Antagonist of all dread. Brethren, I said I was not preaching the religion of Fear. But I think we shall scarcely understand the religion of Love unless we recognize that dread is a legitimate part of an unforgiven man’s attitude towards God. My fear should be to me like the misshapen guide that may lead me to the fortress where I shall be safe. Oh! do not tamper with the wholesome sense of dread. Do not let it lie, generally sleeping, and now and then waking in your hearts, and bringing about nothing. Sailors that crash on with all sails set, whilst the barometer is rapidly falling, and boding clouds are on the horizon, and the line of the approaching gale is ruffling the sea yonder, have themselves to blame if they founder. Look to the falling barometer, and make ready for the coming storm, and remember that the mission of fear is to lead you to the Christ who will take it away.
3) The Expulsion of Fear
Lastly, MacLaren looks at The Expulsion of Fear. He says, “My text points out the natural antagonism, and mutual exclusiveness, of these two emotions (love and fear). If I go to Jesus Christ as a sinful man, and get His love bestowed upon me, then, as the next verse to my text says, my love springs in response to His to me, and in the measure in which that love rises in my heart will it frustrate its antagonistic dread.”
Take time to envision that imagery. God’s love is bestowed on you…and then your love springs up in response to His. We love because He first loved us. And note how MacLaren says, “In the measure in which that love rises in my heart will it frustrate its antagonistic dread.” So we must be sure that we are responding whole-heartedly…completely to God’s love to us. When you are envisioning God’s love being bestowed on you, look and see how your love towards Him is springing up in your heart. Ask Him for help if it is not springing up enough to drive out fear. I still struggle with dread and fear myself. Keep asking God to help you feel His love for you and to help your love for Him spring up as it should in your heart.
In the next paragraph, MacLaren uses helpful imagery. He says, “As I said, you cannot love and fear the same person, unless the love is of a very rudimentary and imperfect character. But, just as when you pour pure water into a bladder, the poisonous gases that it may have contained will be driven out before it, so when love comes in, dread goes out. The river, turned into the foulness of the heart, will sweep out all the filth and leave everything clean. The black, greasy smoke-wreath, touched by the fire of Christ’s love, will flash out into ruddy flames, like that which has kindled them; and Christ’s love will kindle in your hearts, if you accept it and apprehend it aright, a love which shall burn up and turn into fuel for itself the now useless dread.”
I think that’s a really interesting image…Christ’s love burning up and turning into fuel the dread that was there in your heart…transforming it into fuel. So take time to envision that pure water, that pure love of God flowing through your heart…and those poisonous gases being driven out. Love comes in…fear goes out.
MacLaren says that while love and fear are inconsistent…they may be united if the love is not perfect….they can live together in your heart. He says, “There are many professing Christians who live all their days with a burden of shivering dread upon their shoulders, and an icy cold fear in their hearts, just because they have not got close enough to Jesus Christ, nor kept their hearts with sufficient steadfastness under the quickening influences of His love, to have shaken off their dread as a sick man’s distempered fancies. A little love has not mass enough in it to drive out thick, clustering fears. There are hundreds of professing Christians who know very little indeed of that joyous love of God which swallows up and makes impossible all dread, who, because they have not a loving present consciousness of a loving Father’s loving will, tremble when they confront in imagination, and still more when they meet in reality, the evils that must come. They cannot face the thought of death with anything but shrinking apprehension.”
MacLaren says, “The one way to get deliverance is to go to Jesus Christ and keep close by Him.” He warns us again to be sure we get rid of our dread not by ignoring it…but by making sure work of getting rid of the cause of dread…and that is sin. He concludes by saying, “Take all your sin to Jesus Christ; He will and He only can—deal with it. He will lay His hand on you, as He did of old, with the characteristic word that was so often upon His lips, and which He alone is competent to speak in its deepest meaning, ‘Fear not, it is I,’ and He will give you the courage that He commands. ‘God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and of a sound mind.’ ‘Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father,’ and cling to Him, as a child who knows his father’s heart too well to be afraid of anything in his father, or of anything that his father’s hand can send.”
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Imagery of a Triple Fountain and a Rainbow from MacLaren’s Commentary on Isaiah 55:1
There is some imagery from MacLaren’s Commentary on Isaiah 55:1 that I meant to include in yesterday’s post. In his 2nd point when he is explaining what the offer consists of, he uses the imagery of a triple fountain. In Isaiah 55:1 God says, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” So God mentions waters, wine, and milk. These 3 things correspond with the 3 spouts of the triple fountain. MacLaren says, “The great fountain is set up in the market-place of the world, and every man may come; and whichever of this glorious triad of effluents he needs most, there his lip may glue itself and there it may drink, be it ‘water’ that refreshes, or ‘wine’ that gladdens, or ‘milk’ that nourishes. They are all contained in this one great gift that flows out from the deep heart of God to the thirsty lips of parched humanity.” This goes along with what MacLaren said earlier that “[Jesus] is the all-sufficient supply of every thirst of every human soul.” Whatever it is that you are needing at any moment of the day, Jesus can help you…He can supply your need.
Envision that triple fountain with water, wine, and milk flowing out from the 3 different spouts. Envision drinking the water and feeling refreshed, revived, and renewed; then drink the wine and feel your heart being gladdened and your spirits being lifted; and then drink the milk and feel your heart being nourished. This imagery helps us see that not only do we depend on Jesus for salvation, but we also go to Him to meet our daily needs. He is our Good Shepherd and He cares for us throughout each day of our lives.
Here is an AI generated image I made in WordPress of a fountain that might help. It has more than 5 spouts and they all have water flowing out of them. But you can envision a fountain that has water, wine, and milk flowing out of the spouts and it can have many spouts because Jesus meets all of our needs.
There was also really helpful imagery in the part where MacLaren said, “Do we long for a bright hope which shall light up the dark future, and spread a rainbow span over the great gorge and gulf of death? Jesus Christ spans the void, and gives us unfailing and undeceiving hope.” So take some time to form that image in your mind. See that great gulf of death that lies there between you and Jesus. It is dark and full of despair. There is no way for you to build a bridge across it on your own. Feel that feeling of needing a Savior. Then see Jesus shining the light of bright hope into that darkness…and see a rainbow span out like a bridge over that great gulf…making a way for you to walk safely over the gulf into heaven with Jesus. Using this imagery will help you connect with that feeling of safety that we have as Christians…that feeling of having been saved from death and blessed with eternal life. It will help strengthen that feeling of trust you have in Jesus. He saved us from that gulf of death…He has given us a place in heaven…and we can trust that He is walking with us through every moment of this life, too.
Here is an AI generated image of a bridge that might help you in your meditation time:
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Part 2 MacLaren’s Commentary on Isaiah 55:1
I’m going to pick up today where I left off in my previous post. We were going through MacLaren’s Commentary on Isaiah 55:1, which says, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” In MacLaren’s Commentary he explains:
1) Who the offer is made to 2) What the offer consists of and 3) How we obtain the offered gifts
We were talking about the 1st point:
1) Who the offer is made to
MacLaren had explained that people have some thirsts that they know the object of. And that people also have a spiritual thirst, or desire that they do not know the object of is actually God.
Next, MacLaren says that there are dormant thirsts also…unconscious thirsts…thirsts we are not aware of. He says that the business of preachers is to get people to realize they want things they do not wish…or in other words, they are longing for things they are not aware of…and that “for the perfection of their natures, the cherishing of noble longings and thirstings is needful, and that to be without this sense of need is to be without one of the loftiest prerogatives of humanity.”
MacLaren says that some people do not “wish” forgiveness or holiness and they do not want God. I think he is talking about the spiritual condition a person is in before they are saved. They are walking around in spiritual darkness…blind…unaware of their sinful condition, their need for forgiveness, and not consciously longing for holiness. But remember that although we are born in a sinful condition, we are still created in the image of God. As humans, we still have that need of God and a want for Him even if it is dormant…even if we are not consciously aware of it. People will not be truly at rest until they are reconciled to God.
MacLaren says, “And yet there is no desire – that is to say, consciousness of necessities – so dormant but that its being un-gratified makes a man restless.” So even though we are not consciously aware of our need for these things, we will be restless until we get them. He says a person might not be wishing for forgiveness, but that they will not be at rest until they have it. He says, “Until your earthly life is like the life of Jesus Christ in heaven, though in an inferior degree, whilst it is on earth, you will never be at rest. You are thirsty enough after these things to be ill at ease without them…but until you get these things that you do not desire (or have a dormant desire for), be sure of this: that you will be tortured with vain unrest, and will find that the satisfactions which you do seek turn to ashes in your mouth.”
Proverbs 20:17 (KJV) says, “Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.” MacLaren says that the “bread of deceit” represents things that promise nourishment but don’t really give it. Instead, they break the teeth of those who try to chew it. We will talk about this more as we look at Isaiah 55:2 which talks about “that which is not bread.” The idea of bread of deceit goes along with the imagery we have been using. Envision the fountain of living water and people wandering in spiritual darkness. See that they have a desire for something, but they do not know what. They are spiritually blind and do not know that what they long for is God. And they have dormant desires for forgiveness, holiness, and the things of God – dormant in the sense of temporarily inactive as if in a deep sleep. And although those desires are dormant, the fact that they are not satisfied causes a restlessness within the person. They are eating things that are not really bread…but bread of deceit…and so they continue on hungry and restless and groping in darkness. That is their condition spiritually. They might be able to find a measure of happiness in worldly things…but this imagery describes the condition of their soul. There will always be that restlessness until a person is reconciled to God. As you spend time thinking about the condition a person is in when they are separated from God, you will see why it is called a lamentable and miserable condition. People have “parched lips and swollen tongues, and raging desire that earth can give nothing to fill.”
Earlier MacLaren explain that this offer of salvation is being made to everyone who is penniless and thirsty. And they are invited to buy wine and milk without money and without price. But in Isaiah 55:2 they are reprimanded for spending money “on that which is not bread” and their “labor on that which does not satisfy?” So MacLaren clarifies that they had money that they could buy earthly things with… he calls these “lower, earthly satisfactions.” But they were penniless in regards to spiritual things. He says, “our efforts may and do win for us the lower satisfactions which meet our transitory and superficial necessities, but that no effort of ours can secure for us the loftier blessings which slake the diviner thirsts of immortal souls.”
2) Next MacLaren explains what the offer consists of.
The offer consists of salvation. MacLaren explains that it is really an offer of Christ. “[Christ], and not merely some truth about Him and His work; He Himself, in the fulness of His being, in the all-sufficiency of His love, in the reality of His presence, in the power of His sacrifice, in the daily derivation, into the heart that waits upon Him, of His life and His spirit, He is the all-sufficient supply of every thirst of every human soul. Do we want happiness? Christ gives us His joy, abiding and full, and not as the world gives. Do we want love? He gathers us to His heart, in which ‘there is no variableness, neither shadow cast by turning,’ and binds us to Himself by bonds that death, the separator, vainly attempts to untie, and which no unworthiness, ingratitude or coldness of ours will ever be able to unloose. Do we want wisdom? He will dwell with us as our light. Do our hearts yearn for companionship? With Him we shall never be solitary. Do we long for a bright hope which shall light up the dark future, and spread a rainbow span over the great gorge and gulf of death? Jesus Christ spans the void, and gives us unfailing and undeceiving hope. For everything that you and I need here or yonder, in heart, in will, in practical life, Jesus Christ Himself is the all-sufficient supply.”
MacLaren quotes a hymn by Charles Wesley called, “Jesus, Lover of My Soul” by Charles Wesley – Learning to Live by Faith, that says, “Thou of life the fountain art, freely let me take of Thee.” Wesley uses the imagery of healing waters in verse 3 when he says,
Plenteous grace with thee is found,
grace to cover all my sin;
let the healing streams abound;
make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art;
freely let me take of thee;
spring thou up within my heart,
rise to all eternity.3) Lastly, MacLaren explains how we obtain the gifts that have been offered.
He says, “The paradox of my text needs little explanation, ‘Buy without money and without price.’ The contradiction on the surface is but intended to make emphatic this blessed truth, which I pray may reach your memories and hearts, that the only conditions are a sense of need, and a willingness to take — nothing less and nothing more.” We must acknowledge that we are not able to save ourselves and must be willing to put ourselves under obligations to “God’s unhelped and undeserved love for all.”
He says, “Jesus Christ comes into the market-place of the world with His hands full of the gifts which His pierced hands have bought, that He may give them away. He says, ‘Will you take them’?”
MacLaren says that people struggle with the simplicity of this offer of salvation. He says we want to be told that we have to do some great thing to be saved – something hard, strenuous, and complicated. He quotes the hymn “Rock of Ages” and says we struggle to say, “Nothing in my heart I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling.” But that is what is required. Believe and be saved. We must rely completely on God for our salvation, not on any of our own works. There is nothing complicated or great for us to do, we must simply trust in Him. Another really pretty hymn that talks about this and would be really helpful to listen to is called “Only Trust Him” by John H. Stockton – Learning to Live by Faith. The first verse says, “Come, ev’ry soul by sin oppressed— there’s mercy with the Lord, and He will surely give you rest by trusting in His Word. Refrain: Only trust Him, only trust Him, only trust Him now; He will save you, He will save you, He will save you now.”
MacLaren concludes by reminding us of Jesus’ words in the New Testament. He says, “Jesus Christ catches up the ‘comes’ of my text [Isa. 55:1], and He says, ‘Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.’ Brethren, I lay it on your hearts and consciences to answer Him – never mind about me – to answer Him: ‘Sir, give me this water that I thirst not’.”
Envision yourself drinking of that fountain of living water and feeling the refreshing waters of God nourishing your soul.
Links: https://biblehub.com/commentaries/maclaren/isaiah/55.htm
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“Jesus, Lover of My Soul” by Charles Wesley
Hymnal Page Scan: Christian Worship: Hymnal page 511 | Hymnary.org
Keyboard Recording:
1 Jesus, lover of my soul,
let me to thy bosom fly,
while the nearer waters roll,
while the tempest still is high;
hide me, O my Savior, hide,
till the storm of life is past;
safe into the haven guide,
O receive my soul at last!2 Other refuge have I none;
hangs my helpless soul on thee;
leave, ah! leave me not alone,
still support and comfort me.
All my trust on thee is stayed,
all my help from thee I bring;
cover my defenseless head
with the shadow of thy wing.3 Plenteous grace with thee is found,
grace to cover all my sin;
let the healing streams abound;
make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art;
freely let me take of thee;
spring thou up within my heart,
rise to all eternity. -
“Only Trust Him” by John H. Stockton
Hymnal Page Scan: Our Great Redeemer’s Praise page 542 | Hymnary.org
Keyboard Recording:
1 Come, ev’ry soul by sin oppressed—
there’s mercy with the Lord,
and He will surely give you rest
by trusting in His Word.Refrain:
Only trust Him, only trust Him,
only trust Him now;
He will save you, He will save you,
He will save you now.2 For Jesus shed His precious blood,
rich blessings to bestow;
plunge now into the crimson flood
that washes white as snow. [Refrain]3 Yes, Jesus is the Truth, the Way,
that leads you into rest;
believe in Him without delay,
and you are fully blest. [Refrain]4 Come then and join this holy band,
and on to glory go,
to dwell in that celestial land
where joys immortal flow. -
Imagery of Fountain of Living Water; MacLaren’s Commentary on Isaiah 55:1
The Spurgeon sermon I referenced in my previous post is called “Man’s Thoughts and God’s Thoughts” and the verse he is preaching on is Isaiah 55:1. I was going to write today about imagery we can use from that sermon, but then I was reading through Alexander MacLaren’s commentary on that verse and there is a lot of imagery in there so I will write about his commentary first and we can look at Spurgeon’s sermon another time.
The King James Version of Isaiah 55:1, which MacLaren uses in his commentary says, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
And the NIV says, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”
MacLaren titles this passage “The Call to the Thirsty” and “God’s Proclamation.” He begins by explaining that “the meaning of the word preach is ‘proclaim like a herald’; or, what is perhaps more familiar to most of us, like a town-crier; with a loud voice, clearly and plainly delivering the message.” This verse is the proclamation of God’s offer of free and full salvation through Christ. MacLaren says, “Suppose there was an advertisement in to-morrow morning’s papers that any one that liked to go to a certain place might get a fortune for going, what a queue of waiting suppliants there would be at the door!” So imagine that you see a commercial on tv or online that says, “Go to such and such an address tomorrow and someone will be giving out a fortune to anyone who shows up!” Think about how people would hurry to that place. In this verse, God is offering more than an earthly fortune to people. God is saying, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” What does this mean?
MacLaren explains: 1) Who the offer is made to 2) What the offer consists of and 3) How we obtain the offered gifts
1) Who the offer is made to: MacLaren explains, “It is to every one thirsty and penniless. That is a melancholy combination, to be needing something infinitely, and to have not a farthing to get it with. But that is the condition in which we all stand, in regard to the highest and best things. This invitation of my text is as universal as if it had stopped with its third word. ‘Ho, every one’ would have been no broader than is the offer as it stands. For the characteristics named are those which belong, necessarily and universally, to human experience. If my text had said, ‘Ho, every one that breathes human breath,’ it would not have more completely covered the whole race, and enfolded thee and me, and all our brethren, in the amplitude of its promise, than it does when it sets up as the sole qualifications thirst and penury – that we infinitely need, and that we are absolutely unable to acquire, the blessings that it offers.”
He says that “Everyone who thirsteth” means everyone who desires. But that it also means everyone who needs. He says, “And what is every man but a great bundle of yearnings and necessities? None of us carry within ourselves that which suffices for ourselves. We are all dependent upon external things for being and for wellbeing.”
In my post The Doxology – Learning to Live by Faith, I talked about how God is the fountain from whom all of our blessings flow. God is self-sufficient. He has within Himself everything to sustain Himself. And then streams of blessings flow to us from Him. That is what MacLaren is talking about here when he says that every man is a great bundle of yearnings and necessities, but that we do not carry within ourselves the things that would suffice for us, or in other words would sustain us. We get everything we need from God. “In Him we live, and move, and have our being.” (Acts 17:28)
Then remember how we’ve talked about that God created the earth as a habitation for man and created man to have communion with God. In the Garden of Eden before the Fall of mankind, God walked in the Garden with Adam and Eve…they knew Him and talked with Him. After the Fall, mankind’s spiritual understanding was darkened…corrupted…limited. People were born in a sinful condition, separated off from God. They did not know as much about God and did not see their need for Him. But God had a plan of salvation for mankind. A plan to rescue us “from the dominion of darkness” and bring us into “the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14 NIV) And it is this plan of salvation that God is proclaiming in Isaiah 55:1.
What MacLaren is explaining in his commentary is that we are created with a need for God…a longing for Him…a thirst for Him. But because our spiritual understandings are darkened, we do not know where to go to quench our thirsts. It is the Holy Spirit who must make us aware of our sin and our need of a Savior. And in this verse, God is making that proclamation telling His people where to go for salvation. He says, “Come to Me.”
So we have the image of a fountain of water and thirsty people wandering in darkness. MacLaren explains that there are some thirsts we know the object of…we know what we are thirsting after. But one that we do not know the object of. He says, “there are thirsts which infallibly point to their true objects. If a man is hungry he knows that it is food that he wants.” When we feel that feeling of hunger in our stomachs, we know that eating food will satisfy it. He calls these the desires of the animal life – hunger and thirst. He says that there are also nobler desires for which we know the object. When people desire knowledge, they know to read a book. When people desire friendship, they know how to find a friend. So we have many desires that we know what the object is that will satisfy it. Hunger (desire) – food (object), knowledge – instruction, friendship – friend.
Then MacLaren says that there are other desires that we do not know the object of. He says, “But besides all these [desires], besides sense, besides affection, besides emotions, besides the intellectual spur of which we are all more or less conscious, there come in a whole set of other thirsts that do not in themselves carry the intimation (or hint) of the place where they can be slaked.” And this leaves men restless…feeling there is something they do not have, yet not knowing what it is. So people go groping in the dark trying to find where the thing is that they don’t have. He says, “We have thirsts that some of us know not where to satisfy; and so we have parched lips and swollen tongues, and raging desire that earth can give nothing to fill.”
MacLaren asks, “My brother, do you know what it is that you want? It is God. Nothing else, nothing less. ‘My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.’ The man that knows what it is of which he is in such sore need, is blessed.” He says, “Understand your thirst. Interpret your desires aright… Oh, that we all knew what these yearnings of our hearts mean!”
So keep working with that imagery of the fountain and thirsty people wandering around restlessly in the darkness. Then Jesus says, “Come to Me”…the Holy Spirit opens their spiritual eyes and they see the fountain of living water. They repent and believe…they drink of the living water…their spiritual thirst is satisfied…and their restlessness is calmed and they find comfort in knowing that they are at peace with God. They rejoice in their salvation. They exclaim, “Amazing Grace!” That’s what John Newton is talking about in the first verse of Amazing Grace when he says, “Amazing grace – how sweet the sound – that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.” Note how he says, “was blind but now I see’.” When you are singing that part, envision the light shining into the darkness…that moment when you went from restless wandering…to drinking of the living water…and your heart rejoiced in God’s love and grace to you.
I think I will stop here for today and continue writing about this in my next post.
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Let God’s Love Melt You
I think it was in a Spurgeon sermon I was reading recently where he said, “Let God’s love melt you.” I think he was talking about letting God’s love melt a heart of stone. But it also applies to what we have been talking about with trying to get out of a freeze state in terms of fight, flight, freeze. In my previous post, we were working with the imagery of being in God’s presence…seeing ourselves surrounded by His healing light. And when Spurgeon said, “Let God’s love melt you,” I started envisioning God’s light melting that frozen energy. As that light shines on the frozen dysregulated energy, it transforms it into a peaceful, gently flowing energy. And then the light of God’s presence sustains you after that ice melts. That’s important because what has happened to me is that I will get stuck in a cycle of that energy starting to unfreeze, but it’s too dysregulated, so it compresses again and refreezes…and I feel like I’m going to collapse. But if God’s light penetrates through the iciness of that frozen energy and transforms it, then when it unfreezes it is regulated and flowing and able to be processed. And the light of God’s presence continually sustains you.
I posted a hymn on here called “Jesus I Am Resting, Resting” by Jean Sophia Pigott – Learning to Live by Faith. The 1st verse says, “Jesus, I am resting, resting in the joy of what Thou art.” I think I’ve talked on here before about how helpful it is to meditate on God’s attributes — His goodness, omnipotence, omnipresence, righteousness, holiness, and other attributes. We’ve also talked about the importance of getting to a place of stillness before God…to be able to rest in His care. So Jean Sophia Pigott is saying, “Jesus, I am resting, resting in the joy of what Thou art,”…she is resting in who He is…the Almighty God who is loving, kind, gracious, merciful, holy, righteous, and good. By spending time communing with Him, she is getting to know Him more and more and is finding out the greatness of His loving heart. I am currently working on balancing my heart energy — the energy of my emotional heart. I spent time thinking about what Jesus’ heart energy would be like and how it would feel for Jesus to pour a healing energy into your heart. And that’s when I remembered this hymn and listened to it again. Think about what the greatness of His loving heart must be. It is beyond our comprehension. And then look at what she says next, “Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee, as Thy beauty fills my soul.” Jesus wants us to spend time gazing upon Him. And as we do that, His beauty will fill our soul. Envision His beauty pouring into and repairing your emotional heart energy…nurturing you…restoring you…healing you. The next line says, “for by Thy transforming power, Thou hast made me whole.” Note how she says “Thy transforming power.” When you spend time in God’s presence, He transforms you. You are changed by spending time with Him. He makes you more and more like Him. So as you are listening to this hymn, sing it to Jesus. Say the words to Him. “Jesus, I am resting, resting in the joy of what Thou art; I am finding out the greatness
of Thy loving heart. Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee, as Thy beauty fills my soul, for by Thy transforming power, Thou hast made me whole.” And feel yourself being transformed by His presence. Remember how in the Old Testament, Moses’ face would shine after he had spent time with God. Our faces will not shine like his did…but we will feel transformed and our hearts will glow…not in a way that we can visibly see…but in a way that we can feel. We will feel His transforming love in our hearts. And then His presence will continue to sustain us as we go throughout the day. See if when you are using this imagery in your meditation time you are able to get to a point of feeling like you are resting in the joy of who Jesus is…and feeling like you are able to rest in His care for you. See yourself walking along the pathway to heaven with Him, learning more and more to trust in His guidance and to truly rest in Him.
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Learning to Live by Faith 