Streams of Comfort

This poem is inspired by a passage I read in the book “Deeper” by Dane C. Ortlund. In a section of the book that talks about santification and justification he writes, “You can’t crowbar your way into change. You can only be melted.” (pg. 91, Deeper) This was a paradaigm shift for me, as I realized that true transformation occurs through our hearts being melted through the gospel. It is not something you can force your way into through human effort. It occurs as you continually go “deeper” into the gospel day by day. If you are frustrated in your walk with God or even content. I pray that God will melt your heart a little more as you read what I have written, and are reminded about the hope and goodness the gospel brings.

Please melt me,
Pour the salt into my wounds so that I can’t ignore them anymore.
You know,
I have been longing for change,
I wanted to become someone you would be proud of,
And then the realization came,
That even with everything I have done,
Everything I have sacrificed,
I have remained the same.
The pickaxe I hold in my right hand,
Has been unable to chip away at the ice that surrounds my heart.
Please melt me,
Let the salt enter into my wounds,
So that I feel the stinging pain,
That stinging pain that brings water to my eyes.
Water,
The evidence that at some place and at some time ice was melted.
And may the cold ice surrounding my heart,
Become the water that streams down my face,
As I feel the pain of every wound,
The wounds I inflicted on myself,
And the ones I received from others.
Please melt me,
For “by [your] wounds we shall be healed.”
The prophet Isaiah spoke those words many years ago,
And I never realized just how true those words are,
The extent of our healing,
The extent of our okay-ness,
Comes solely from your justification of us,
From the wounds we ultimately inflicted on you,
And not from our ability to bandage our own.
So I surrender and I keep your sacrifice foremost in my mind,
The ice melting as my heart starts to beat again,
Through the realization of an everlasting love,
Something that will never grow cold.
And may the salt,
The truth,
The light,
The gospel,
Keep me there by your Holy Spirit.