Hi there, it’s me again.
It’s been a while; 658 days since I last posted anything, to be precise. I’ve been going through a really difficult period lately and thought blogging again might be a helpful catharsis.
May I ask you a question? Have you ever felt that momentary sense of joy in Jesus? It’s often just a fleeting moment — like the soft landing of a butterfly on a flower petal only to take off again — but it’s no less real or tangible.
I wanted to share a song with you, which I think captures this feeling so well. The rapture of knowing God; no, better than that — of being known by God himself.
Have a listen here on Spotify (or a short stripped out sample on YouTube). The rest of this post will make a lot more sense if you’ve listened to the song. Here are the lyrics (the post continues below):
You lead me like the dawning of the day
You lead me like April leads into May
You lead me like the stone you rolled away
You take my hand and we will run… away
Just like a child I rest upon your knee
Just like a song, your love, it sings to me
Beside your arms I find a symphony
You take my hand and then we run… away
To the place where my fears have no voice at all
The only sound in my ear: the whisper of your call
This moment is frozen
I’m not going anywhere
I’d linger forever
If only I could stay… here
Remember all those years ago we met
All I recall are days of past regret
And you felt so far but I had never left
Just wanting you to take my hand… and run
To the place where my fears have no voice at all
The only sound in my ear: the whisper of your call
This moment is frozen
I’m not going anywhere
I’d linger forever
If only I could stay
If only I could stay
In the place where my fears have no voice at all
The only sound in my ear: the whisper
In the place where my fears have no voice at all
The only sound in my ear: the whisper of your call
This moment is frozen
I’m not going anywhere
Linger forever
If only I could stay
If I could stay… here
I could wax lyrical about this song: about its acoustic quality, about the lovely harmony between Jimmy and Lizi, about many other musical features.
But I just want to focus on how perfectly it captures the momentary sensation of rapture that the soul experiences when it is full of the joy of being known by God. It is like being transported “to the place where my fears have no voice at all / The only sound in my ear: the whisper of your call”. That moment is frozen; and you know that it’s you and the Lord Jesus, the perfect bridegroom, who has poured His love into your heart by the Spirit (Romans 5:5).
In the words of St Augustine, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.”
In those moments, your heart has found this rest.
Sadly, though, we know only too well that these moments are ephemeral, fleeting, temporary. You would “linger forever” if you could. But it just doesn’t work that way. It’s a bit like the Apostle Peter on the mount of transfiguration, yearning for Jesus, Elijah and Moses to stick around (Mark 9:2ff).
Thus the wistful tenor of the song: “If only I could stay…”
It’s what C.S. Lewis called an “inconsolable longing”; a “lifelong nostalgia, our longing to be reunited with something in the universe from which we now feel cut off, to be on the inside of some door which we have always seen from the outside” (the Weight of Glory).
But it’s not all bad. Captured so well in the third verse of the song is the great encouragement that the Holy Spirit is with us always as believers. When we are despondent, the Spirit (represented by Lizi in the song) says to us, “Remember all those those years ago we met?” Remember that moment when you knew it was Him? It may have been the night when you prayed to receive Jesus; it may have been that awe-full sense you had while meditating on Scripture; it may have been when you were on your knees singing in praise; indeed, it may have been in all of these moments.
How often do we think that God isn’t with us, just because that fleeting sense of joy has faded away! How easily we slip into thinking, “all I recall are days of past regret.” But the Spirit says, “You felt so far but I had never left / Just wanting you to take my hand.”
Indeed, he says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)
And so we do not lose heart (cf 2 Cor 4). We take courage and wait on the LORD, thanking Him for these moments of pure joy along the way, but longing eagerly for His return to rescue His bride.
And when He does, those moments of rapture — of pure joy — will no longer be fleeting. For we shall be with Him forever. He shall wipe away every tear from our eyes.