“I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.” (Leviticus 26:12, NIV 1984).
My Musings – Sounds almost like a fairytale. One of the “great stories.”
“It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end… because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing… this shadow. Even darkness must pass.”
― The Two Towers
The greatest story ever told.
Once Upon A Time – God walked among mankind. “The man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” (Genesis 3:8, NIV 1984).
So Much Bad Happens – Because of the fall. “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:17–19. NIV 1984).
It’s Only A Passing Thing – Because He walked among us for a short time. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12, NIV 1984).
They Lived Happily Ever After – Because He will walk among us once again. “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. (Revelation 21:3, NIV 1984).
After the fall, Paradise was lost to mankind. Cast out into a world “full of darkness and danger.” All hope lost, “how could the world go back to the way it was?” We could not go back and we “didn’t want to know the end… because how could the end be happy?” “But in the end, it’s only a passing thing.” Not because the “darkness must pass,” but because we are not just in a great story. We are in the greatest story ever told. Not a fairytale, but a tale of redemption. A tale of paradise restored. The “darkness [can] pass.”
My Advice – The question remains, “how can the end be happy” for you? “He who overcomes [believers] will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the…unbelieving…their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Revelation 21:7–8, NIV 1984).
See my musings on “The Born Again Experience,” to learn how to be one who overcomes.
The Brew Is A Musing 