What an amazing thing to see a plant which appears to be growing right out of a rock!  My brother, Cody, took this photo a couple of years ago when I had just finished reading Hinds' Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard.

Hannah wrote of a flower which "Much-Afraid" saw on her climb up to the High Places.  In the harsh bare surroundings, with the sun shining down, the graceful but sturdy flower was indeed a thing of great beauty.

With a soft laugh the little flower proclaimed, "See now!  There is nothing whatever between my Love and my heart, nothing around to distract me from Him . . . There is no flower in all the world more blessed or more satisfied than I, for I look up to Him as a weaned child and say, 'Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire but thee.' " (p.138)

Forgiven Worship is in much the same place as this flower.  Seven and half months ago the Lord asked us to step onto a bridge that would lead to an unexpected path.  It was not a direction we would have chosen, and yet it was God's immence wisdom which led us.

We entered into a season of painful but precise pruning and purification - both individually and as a team.  Everything was laid bare and stripped away until we knew with even greater clarity that He is our single aspiration and necessity.

You know, we are righteous only by the blood of Jesus - nothing more, nothing less.  But in this place of shocking grace, God wants our roots to go deep; He wants to establish us in righteousness.

The Hebrew word for 'establish' in Isaiah 54:14 is kuwn, meaning "to be erect; (i.e. to stand perpendicular); (lit.) to establish, fix, prepare, apply; (fig.) to appoint, or to render sure, proper or prosperous."  It is to "confirm, direct, fashion, fasten, frame, ordain, perfect, and make ready."

I cannot think of a better description of the last seven months.  When people have asked what we have been doing, well, we have been establishing ourselves.  Not in works.  Not in music.  Not in the business of life.  But in Him.

We recognized our great need and He poured out His flawless grace and mercy.  Our roots have gone deeper into His peace, His joy, His compassion as He has strengthened our faith and our resolve.  He has shown Himself extravagant in our weakness.

I pray in agreement with Paul that our love would abound even more in order to "surely learn to sense what is vital, and approve and prize what is excellent and of real value [recognizing the highest and the best]", that we all may live pure, blameless lives and abound in the fruits of righteousness, to the honor of God! (Phil. 1:9-11)