Bagpipe Heart
Today a conversation with a friend reminded me of an old EmmDev which I think is relevant today...
Some time ago, I wrote an EmmDev on Soul Care. I quoted Henry Drummond who said that the heart is an "an elastic chamber that expands with God in it, or shrinks without Him." A colleague and mentor, Calvin Cook, who is now in Glory, responded to it. Here's what I wrote in response...
Picking up on Henry Drummond's quote of the heart being an elastic chamber, my friend Calvin suggested that we have the choice between being vuvuzelas or bagpipes. The key difference is not only in the mono-tone of the one compared to the variety of the other, but in the bag, which, when filled, allows the piper to play a much longer note than the human lung can blow the vuvuzela!
Isaiah records God's Word to those who think they can keep going in their own strength. In these very unpredictable and turbulent times we will not last if we try this vuvuzela style. We'll run out of breath...
In repentance, rest, quietness and trust is salvation and strength.
The Afrikaans word for "bagpipe" is "doedelsak" and it is so onomatopoeic!
Soul-care means we fill the "sak" (bag) of the "doedel" (tune or ditty) with the breath of God.
The old hymn says it best:
Breathe on me, breath of God,
Breathe on me, breath of God.
Fill me with life anew,
That I may love what Thou dost love,
And do what Thou wouldst do.
Breathe on me, breath of God,
Until my heart is pure,
Until with Thee I will one will,
To do and to endure.
Breathe on me, breath of God,
Blend all my soul with Thine,
Until this earthly part of me
Glows with Thy fire divine.
Breathe on me, breath of God,
So shall I never die,
But live with Thee the perfect life
Of Thine eternity.
(Edwin Hatch 1878)
| This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. You said, 'No, we will flee on horses.' Therefore you will flee! You said, 'We will ride off on swift horses.' Therefore your pursuers will be swift! (Isaiah30:15-16) |
