The Eternal Hug

This morning, I stared at my blinking cursor as I tried to wrap my mind around words to try to describe what I experienced this morning.

But I couldn't.

So I'm going to give you an assignment. Listen to this song: When God Ran by Benny Hester, and then picture this, because this is what happened this morning:

You're in front of a mirror, and you're looking into it. It's fogged over, and you're truly trying to see where you are in it, but there's no reflection. You're confused and sad and uncertain. So many things are pressing on your heart, and somehow, not being able to see them clearly in the mirror makes it harder to understand yourself or who God is or where He is.

And then you see a finger writing words in the mirror's condensation, and they say:

Tired warrior, come rest.

They say:

Beloved child, come sit.

They say:

Come to the still waters, the green pastures, the banquet table.

The condensation clears, and you see Him in the distance on the other side in a wide open field (Psalm 18:19: "He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me").

You step through the mirror, which is no longer a mirror, but a door, and as you do, you see Him...

Run.

Run toward you.

As though you are worth it. As though you are the sole intent of His heart. As though the Creator of the universe, the One Who strung the stars through space, the One Who shaped the oceans and placed them in their basins, the One Who formed the tallest mountains and every last creature that moves across the surface of the earth...

That One... ran to you as though He couldn't wait to meet you.

And so you run to meet Him, too, and there, in the middle of that field, He throws His arms around you. It's not a gentle pressure. It's not a polite side-hug. It's a full-on, tackle-intensive, bear hug, and you know how -- in the best hug you've ever had, you tuck your chin into the hollow of the other person's neck, and you squeeze as hard as you can to let them know, somehow through the pressure of that hug -- that you don't ever, ever want to let them go? 

You realize, in that moment, in that hug in the middle of that field...

That you don't have to.

This is the eternal hug. This is the moment that holds still for all time, and that from there, in the shelter of that hug, in the place where you are completely surrounded by His love...

You can face anything, anything, else.

I heard a word from the Lord two days ago in the car. It was a single sentence, and it came at the end of a long day of struggling as I'd processed bits and pieces of what feels like a massive spiritual war for this world and the people in it.

I had all sorts of questions for the Lord: Why is there infighting? Why are we stabbing each other in the back? An army is supposed to stand firmly united to face the enemy -- and by enemy, I do mean Satan and all his forces of evil, who are having a heyday slipping among our ranks and causing confusion and disorder and pointing fingers and anger and, yep, even hatred. One follower of Christ against another.

Can we understand how awful this is? How ineffective this makes us against the one we should be fighting? 

Anyway, as I was processing all this and praying, I heard the words: "There will be casualties in this evil warfare."

And it broke my heart. Because I like happy endings. I want all the good guys to live happily ever after and all the bad guys to get their comeuppance. 

This morning, in that hug, Jesus tucked my head against His chest where I could hear the steady tempo of His heartbeat, reminding me of the safety and security that I find in His arms. As He spoke, I could feel the vibration of His voice against my ear. 

There is a happy ending. Because the seed that dies brings new life, and that life is eternal life. 

"You have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring Word of God. For all men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of the Lord stands forever" (1 Peter 1:23-25).

So don't be broken-hearted when the casualties fall, because I gather them to my heart. You fight the battle from the shelter of my side; I'm right here.

He rocked me gently as a mother does a child, smoothing back my hair, kissing my forehead. Weary warrior, I give you rest. 

"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matthew 11:29).

If you're fighting this battle, don't try to do it by yourself. Do it from the shelter of His shade. "Because You are my help, I sing in the shadow of Your wings. My soul clings to You (like the best hug ever), Your right hand upholds me" (Psalm 63:7-8).

Think about how God runs to you. Let me say that again: Think about how God... He runs to you!

"I remembered His love for me,
And down that dusty road, ahead I could see --
It was the only time,
It was the only time I ever saw Him run.
And then...

He ran to me,
He took me in His arms,
Held my head to His chest,
Said, "My son's come home again!"
Lifted my face,
Wiped the tears from my eyes,
With forgiveness in His voice, he said, 

"Son, do you know I still love you?"

He caught me by surprise,
And He brought me to my knees...

When God ran..."

Do you need the reminder today that you are worth the run? That you are worth the flat-out sprint the Creator of the universe makes, because He is so intent on meeting you? Meeting you?

I sure did. Nothing else matters, not the worries, fears, pressures, struggles -- more specifically, not the stress of another year of grad school, not the worry of finding a job once it's completed, not the wide-eyed fear of watching a world tilting off its axis as a country goes rabid-mad at one another, not the concern of seeing a divided and fractured church...

Because while all those things are big things and while they are important battles to fight...

I fight them from the shade at His right hand, after the best hug ever.