Tenderness in the Old Testament
If I am graced to understand with my head and to accept with my heart that the very fabric of the Divine is love, then it is well understood that His heart is tender. (Brennan Manning, with SoulSupply edits)
This is not new ... tenderness existed pre-time.
Written in 520 BC, Zechariah begins with a positive note and concludes equally update. Tenderness are the brackets for this difficult, chameleon like prophecy.
Therefore, thus says the Lord, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; my house shall be built in it, declares the Lord of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. Cry out again, Thus says the LORD of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem. (Zechariah 1:16-17)
Within this chameleon like Old Testament prophecy – judgment, justice and victory are spoken of by God. This book stretches through pain to prosperity.
On that day HOLY TO THE LORD will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the LORD's house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD Almighty. (Zechariah 14:20-21)
The pot and the bell are unable to elevate themselves. God does this easily.
Under the Master's tenderness, trash has become treasure.
God makes the valueless, valuable and the menial meaningful. God adds value by calling the valueless into His service. He does what none other can or will do.
He identifies the identifiers of the cattle as His. That which has no self-identity now does. He raises the low to high tasks. The polluted He makes pure! This is his heart of tenderness. He elevates the ignoble and makes them noble. His elevation will always deliver both dignity and purity.
To conclude then where we began – this God who is love without change, gentle and kind to me, still desires to bring release, refreshment and repair into my life each day. His heart is still and always will be for tenderness to me!
Next time you think of Him - think ... IT IS SURE HE TOO HAS BEEN TENDER TO ME!
#Inspired from Brennan Manning, 'The Wisdom of Tenderness', HarperSanFrancisco 2004
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