The Personal Covenant

UV 1376/10,000 The Personal Covenant
And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me
Jeremiah 32 v 40

The word “covenant” implies a sacred agreement, an agreement in which God is not just a witness for He witnesses all that we do but He is also a signing partner. The closest thing to covenant that people are familiar with is marriage. It is the beginning of what is meant to be an enduring relationship, a relationship that survives the vicissitudes or ups and downs of life. It is based on some written agreement or a permanent record. It contains some mutual or reciprocal terms and promises. It makes the partners bound in the covenant closer than even immediate family. It is a commitment to do good to each other, to help each other achieve one’s potential. The covenant with God is everlasting and even more impactful, intimate and fruitful than marriage. The eternal covenant is entered into individually, person by person. It is personal. It is holistic- it influences or impacts us in the totality of our personalities, in spirit, mind and body. It is comprehensive- no part of our lives is excluded from its purview.

To have a personal relationship with God implies that in Christ we have a covenant relationship with the Lord. He is the “Bridegroom of blood”. He is the stronger partner. He is the provider. He provides us spiritual food or manna for our souls. He is the protector. He is the warrior on our behalf. He ensures we are victorious though He does not guarantee that we will have challenges, difficulties and tests. For indeed, “ many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers them from all. The afflictions are meant to purify, to strengthen, to perfect us in our frailties. God promises never to turn away from us and to do good to us. This is the reason that it is believed and affirmed that all things happen for good to them that love Him. The Lord places a sense of reverence in our hearts for Him and His Word. This reverence and awe keeps us faithful and make us stick to Him. If we do not stick to Him, sin will stick to us like a leech. Only salt can separate a leech that is stuck onto someone’s body. That salt is the Word of God. We must instead stick like glue to the Lord. It will keep us from departing or moving away from the Lord and His Word.
People want to get married to the beautiful. But when we get married to God, we become beautiful, our lives become beautiful. We will begin to see meaningful patterns emerge from the apparently meaningless. The broken parts of our lives will combine to form a beautiful pattern even as broken pieces of glass bangles form beautiful patterns on the screen of a kaleidoscope. The Lord will take the brokenness of our lives and make it stronger and purposeful. When we look back the times when we were seemingly strong and independent, confident of ourselves and self sufficient, were the times when we were not close to the Lord. It is when we are lost or broken, that He seems closest to us and speaks to us in every thought and word. He enables us to rise on wings of faith- the Word and prayer. Though we are meek as doves, He gives us the wings of a mighty eagle, to rise high above all our earthly battles. We ascend on word and prayer and transcend our foes and their weapons. The covenant with God unlike marriage is eternal, even death does not dissolve it.

Prateep V Philip