Life's Purpose 5

The second part of the Westminister Catechism is that man's chief end is to enjoy God for ever. How do I (we) enjoy God?

The enjoyment of God. Right now. It is great to enjoy the benefits of God's ordinances (authoritative statutes), but to enjoy God's presence in the ordinances is that for which a follower of Christ aspires.

Psalm 63:2, "To see thy glory so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary." This sweet enjoyment of God is when we feel his Spirit co-operating with the ordinance, and pouring out grace upon our hearts.

John Wesley had been dogged by doubt for many years. Then, he had the experience of meeting God at a “felt” level. He described it thusly; “In the evening I went very unwilling to a society in Aldersgate Street….About a quarter before nine…I felt my heart strangely warmed.’ He never was the same person hence.

Scripture speaks to the affections regarding God. Luke 24:32, "Did not our hearts burn within us?"
An encounter with God transforms the heart. 2 Cor. 3:8, "We are changed into the same image, from glory to glory."
This comforting fellowship of God’s love revives the heart, giving confirmation that He is truly one to be enjoyed

My first wife Ann’s death presented an opportunity to connect with God on a feeling level that lead to enjoying Him more deeply. Unless you've walked in the place of death of a spouse, there is no understanding of the desolation, the hopelessness. It's like walking into the house and shouting "I'm home," hoping someone beside the four walls would hear and respond. Selfishness seems justified.

The book "A time to Grieve" describes it thusly: When we lose a loved one, almost everything in us and around us seems to change at the moment of the death. We are likely to feel isolated. And we may feel, too, as if the world is a vastly confusing and chaotic place. We long for just a few moments with our loved one. We reflect on the happiness that person brought into our life. Nothing else makes sense to us but the rare and meaningful relationship, which we cherished - which is now gone. Consumed by our devastating loss and our longing, we see ourselves and the world much differently than we ever have before.

Shock and processing pain filled my first few weeks of grief, along with staying busy long hours of the day, six days a week. The seventh was designed to feel - feel God's presence through music at church and feel the raw pain of the loss in the afternoon and evening. Journaling was a significant tool for that expression. Part of my journaling read, “God, if according to Isaiah you want to be a husband to the abandoned wife. I ask you to be as a wife to an abandoned husband. He gave me the verse in John 14:23 that God and Jesus would come to me in my home “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.”

Even through the pain, God’s presence was palpable in my home. My enjoyment of God was amazing and hard to describe. And then He gave me the great gift of Theresa as my wife.
“The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

More on enjoying God in the next post.