Grace's Wounding

Going through the Bible in a year is an admirable goal. I've done it a couple of times now, and let me warn you about the best set back that could possibly happen: the verse lapse. The verse lapse is when you get stuck on a verse and are pulled back to it every time you open the Bible. Progress becomes slowed, and your goal could not be hindered by any better thing. This verse can become the lens through which you start reading the rest of Scripture.

And I have been caught in a verse lapse. It is not a bad thing. But if you are a goal driven person set on finishing the Bible in 365 then it can catch you off guard and can be annoying if you aren't prepared.

Here is where I am caught:

"So do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." 2 Cor 4:16-18

I am stuck on these verses as I ponder the rest of the texts as I read. This verse is what God is showing me my present life through. I am amazed at His provision, and the timeliness of His actions, His ever-present care. And all these things that I am caught up in are light and momentary, our lives are but grass, like a spark.

O'Connor said it best, "Grace must wound before it can heal". And if this fatal cut is deep, how great the scar that is the story of how my God has rescued me!