Spelunking

I tend to think of my heart as a cave. It is hard, craggy and mostly empty. It is characterized by fissures, cracks, crevices and hiding places. It is a place of darkness and shadows. I think of it in these terms for two reasons. First, because I know my own heart. I am keenly aware of what lurks within and also of what has been chased out. Second, I know by God's teaching that my heart is deceitful. It is not what it appears to be.

Wherever a light is cast, rich wonders of creation are revealed. But just beyond the light, in the shadowy places lurk those things, thoughts, feelings, appetites, lusts, that despise the light and shrink back from it.

I also know that one day, God will search all the corners of my heart as a spelunker with a flashlight. On that day, all the dark places will be illuminated and my innermost thoughts, the thoughts of my flesh and of my nature will be dragged out kicking and screaming into the light. And I will have to make an accounting for those things which I despise.

Between then and now, I need to be a spelunker in the cave of my own heart, seeking out the hidden pathways, the nooks and crannies. I need to do this with a bright light so that I can 'clean house.' Of course, I don't have the light that I need. But my partner does. The Holy Spirit that lives within me IS the bright light that chases away all the shadows within. It reveals and convicts me in ways that I don't understand.

Romans 8:27 (NIV)

²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

^[1] The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984

As I said previously, God is he who searches our hearts. But God has sent a 'forward taskforce' ahead of Him to prepare the way. God knows the mind of The Spirit that lives within us and that Spirit is a conduit of sorts that lays bare our hearts before God. That God knows the mind of The Spirit speaks of His omniscience and of the intimacy that is exemplified in the Holy Trinity.

Speaking of The Trinity, let us not forget that Christ the Son now sits in the throneroom of God and intercedes on our behalf. This verse tells us that The Spirit too intercedes on our behalf. We are the saints referenced in this passage. The Spirit even as it is working within us to sanctify us is also working without us interceding on our behalf to God. It's not something that will happen, it is something that IS happening now.

God has done everything to prepare a way for us to be in communion with Him. He has given His Son in ransom for our souls. He has given The Spirit in power for our lives. In all things it is clear that God has a passion for us. My heart, yes my deceitful heart, the one that is being turned into a vessel suitable for God's purposes, simply wants to cry out. But what it wants to say has been said...

Romans 12:1 (The Message)

Place Your Life Before God

^1–2 12 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.

^[1] Peterson, Eugene H.: The Message : The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, Colo. : NavPress, 2002

Shalom,

Carl