Some relationships run deep.
There are times when a friend just gets you or understands you. This is a gift. There are seasons in marriage when all cylinders are firing perfectly and things are in sync. These are times of a rich knowing and being known. But in this fallen world–with us being fallen people, there can just as easily come a sense of not getting it or not being understood.
If I expected my husband to meet every need I have, I would be pinning an awful lot on the poor guy. Over time I have learned this is an unreasonable expectation. No matter the quality and depth of a relationship, could any one person fulfill the varied needs of another’s heart? Likewise could any one friendship understand the deep wells of the heart? Maybe you say yes? But I would say–in the end, no. Because we were not made to find our worth and satisfaction solely in another person. Human relationships–when they are at their best, are a source of strength and joy in this life. They satisfy and bless. But we all know they can just as easily dissatisfy. They can frustrate and wound.
For we who follow Christ, He is that one friend who sticks closer than a brother. He is there in the middle of the night. He is there when we feel alone. He sees our failings and fears. He knows our frame and remembers we are dust. Still, He says come–continually–without ceasing. Can we be too needy, too dirty for God to receive us? Can we cry out too much? Can we seek, knock, and ask to the point of exhausting his patience? There are ways to exhaust God’s patience, but it is not from coming as a child seeking the will of our Father. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows!
“My people have committed two sins;
They have forsaken me, the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
Jeremiah 2:13
Who or what do you turn to to fulfill your needs? Cisterns have limits. They are tanks that contain water, but they are fallible. And broken ones don’t hold water. But a spring of water–LIVING water– is always bubbling up fresh. It is inexhaustible and unending. That is what Christ is. His arm is not too short to save. He does not tire or grow weary. He knows you and as you cast your cares upon him and find him faithful, He will supply all that you need in Christ Jesus. He knows!
“If Christ were only a cistern, we might soon exhaust his fullness,
but who can drain a fountain?”
Charles H. Spurgeon (Morning and Evening; August 27 morning)
In love,
Erika
{Originally published January 2016}
