From Wholeness to Wholeness

Read |Psalm 46|

Who is our refuge?
It is God. 
God who is mighty and impenetrable.
Nothing can harm me when God is my refuge.
Nothing can prosper against me when He is my hiding place.
And He is ever with me.
He is well known you know.
He is known to be the ever faithful and effective help in the time of trouble.
This is why I am unafraid.
I am unmoved by the changing earth and shifting times.
The old is passing and my heart remains strong.
The old is passing with a great uproar--
Still my soul is undisturbed.
I remember and know that God is my refuge.

The narrative arc of the Bible starts with a picture of wholeness , becomes complicated when it is lost in Eden and climaxes at the point of Jesus' victory on the cross over sin and death. (Genesis 1 - 2; Genesis 3 & Matthew 27: 32-56). We are caught up now, in the unfolding of time and events leading to the full restoration of all things to the beginning--the point of wholeness--shalom. The point at which we lack no good thing. (2 Corinthians 3:18). But as with the renewal of anything, first comes the clearing away--what is old must be cast aside. We must avail ourselves to the shaking of what can be shaken, so that only what is unshakeable may remain--the truly good things. This is how we are empowered to understand the shifting and disruption of our places of comfort and--even our inner lives--when God is our help. We can remain undisturbed because we know He is faithful and mighty to help us.

Reflect: Are there places of stirring in your life? Are there things that are being shaken? What has been your interpretation of this rumbling?

Pray: Ask God to give you eyes to rightly interpret the stirring, shaking and rumbling in your life. Thank Him in advance for His help in remaining undisturbed and hopeful in the process. 

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His Spirit meandering within gives me cause to raise a song.
He is inside me--He who is mighty and impenetrable--I will not be moved.
I know that after the uproar--
The passing away--
He will make all things new.
I look on in safety at the works of His hands.
My soul rejoices.
He reconciles all things--
Bringing an end to my striving.
He destroys the weapons that they may never be taken up again.
I need not fear the drivers of old and their chariots--
To ashes He has made them.
I speak, by faith, peace, wholeness, shalom, to my soul.
God is near.
God is here.
He makes sight my faith declaration,
As He is exalted amongst the nations and in the earth.
As He is exalted over me.
His peaceful reign is upon us.
His peaceful reign is over me.

Wholeness is the absence of what diminishes and the presence of every good thing. It is brought to bear by the stripping away of the old and the addition of what is new. But, the addition of something new is insufficient reason to utter praise. God adds what is good. He takes away the bad and plants within us the seed of His righteousness in Christ Jesus. He tends it from planting to harvest--ensuring its increase--until we come to perfectly bear witness to Him in our likeness. (2 Corinthians 3:18 & Philippians 1: 6). He is determined in His quest to restore us fully--destroying the power and even the presence of what would seek to undo us.

Reflect: Often when we embark on the journey of wholeness, we have in mind that we will have to lose some things. We expect to lose what is unlike Him. But, God's definition of wholeness always includes the addition of what is good. What have you made room for in your life?

Pray: Pray for a vision of the wholeness He may be seeking to restore in you. Ask Him to direct you to the promises He desires for you to enter into (through Spirit led works), in this season. As you walk this faith journey, speak those promises aloud, until the time that your faith becomes sight. Rejoice all the way, for your faith shall in fact be made sight. 

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Worship as your signal that you are embracing the vision of wholeness God has for your life:

Go Deeper
Join the discussion in our Be-Held Book Community about wholeness, as we read "Wholeness" by Toure Roberts.