The Secret of Clinging

I cling to Your testimonies; O LORD, do not put me to shame! (Psalm 119:31).

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s “the weaker vessel,” one of the things we feel deeply as the bride of Christ is our helplessness and vulnerability apart from Him. Especially in times of difficulty or trouble,

when we really feel our need for Him, we will cling to Him as a person who can’t swim might cling to a life vest.

During crisis seasons, the secret place becomes our source of survival as we come aside to cling to Him and cry out for help. There are times when I’m especially clingy. I’ve wondered, “Lord, are you displeased that I am clinging to you so desperately right now?” The answer I’ve sensed is, “No, I love it when you depend on Me. Without Me you can do nothing, but you don’t always own that reality. I love it when it finally sinks in that you need Me more than your very breath, and you cling to Me with all your might.”

There are times when my soul is being blown about with winds, and I don’t even understand the nature of the warfare. If I knew where the warfare was coming from, or if I knew how to defend myself, it would be a lot easier. But I’ll find myself caught

The Secret of Clinging

in a swirl of emotions and uncertainties, and I won’t know what to do next. The only thing I know to do in those times is to get away to the secret place, tremble before Him in my vulnerability, and cling to Him desperately.

I used to think that Christian maturity meant that we got stronger and stronger until we were an intimidating force to be reckoned with by the powers of darkness. But the image of maturity that’s given for us in Scripture is quite different from that: “Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?” (Song of Solomon 8:5). Here we see the bride who has been perfected in love through the seasoning of the wilderness, and what quality is most striking about her? She is depending upon her Beloved for help with every step! Experience has taught her that she needs Jesus’ help in literally every area of her life, so she leans on Him and clings to Him with desperate dependence.

There are many times when I get up to minister before a group of saints that I feel “wobbly.” I’m groping in my spirit about how to proceed, struggling to discern the Lord’s will for the ministry time at hand. I have found the stronger I feel in myself, the easier it is to move right past God. The weaker I feel, the more desperately I reach out to Him for direction and insight. Therefore, when I’m weaker, I usually follow Him more closely. So sometimes I just stand before the people and teeter. And cling to Him! As I cling to Him, I find He is amazingly faithful to direct my steps according to His will. In my times of greatest weakness I have discovered, “For by You I can run against a troop, by my God I can leap over a wall” (Psalm 18:29).

You won’t mind so much clinging to Him in public if you’ve already been clinging to Him in private. The secret place is where we establish ourselves as clingers to His side.

When we lose our “clinginess” to Him, we become prey to all sorts of deceptions and pitfalls. Speaking of Jesus’ relation- ship to the Jewish leaders, the Scripture says, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone” (Psalm 118:22). The builders were the Jewish priests and scribes. They were schooled and trained, had done their internships, and

Secrets of the Secret Place

were capable builders for God. But despite their expertise, they rejected the very stone God established as the chief cornerstone. The same temptation faces leaders today. It’s possible for us, after all our training and experience, to reject the very thing God has determined to use in a central way in this hour. Attention all builders: We need to maintain a constant awareness of our own ineptitude. Apart from a clinging relationship to the Lord, we can easily miss the stone of truth God is establishing among His people today.

Something else I cling to in the secret place: His word. I clutch His word to my breast as though it is my very life. “I cling to Your testimonies; O LORD, do not put me to shame!” (Psalm 119:31). I think that “testimonies” point, in part, to the stories of God’s mighty acts of intervention on behalf of the saints of his- tory—how He parted the waters; how He fed them with manna; how He leveled the walls of Jericho; how He raised the dead to life. These are His testimonies, and they reflect His ways—how He handles His devout ones who love Him. I cling to the stories of God’s power revealed because they encourage me that He still works in the same magnificent ways today. I cling to His testi- monies for I need that same miraculous power to be released in my own life. “O LORD, do not put me to shame!”

After Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene (intentionally so). You see, Mary was the last one at the tomb on the day of His burial, and she was the first one at the tomb on the morning of the third day. When nobody else was there, Mary was. So Jesus revealed Himself first to the one who loved and missed Him most! When Mary saw Him, she was overcome with joy, and wrapped her arms around his feet. Jesus said to her, “‘Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father’” (John 20:17). He was not rebuking her as though He thought she shouldn’t have clung to Him like that. He was simply meaning, “It’s not time yet. I know the purity of your heart, Mary, that you long to be joined in love to Me. But I have to ascend to the Father first before we cling to each other in the kingdom of God.”

In clinging to Jesus, Mary Magdalene was a representation

The Secret of Clinging

of the endtime bride of Christ. Like Mary of long ago, there is a bridal company today that is yearning for His appearing, look- ing for Him, peering into the darkness, lovesick with longing to see Him. Weeping. And waiting. This is the kind of bride Jesus is coming back for. And when He reveals Himself to her the second time, she will not be put off any longer. Even if He should try to say, “Don’t cling to Me,” these arms will wrap around His feet, and I’ll never let go! “We lost you once, Lord, and I’m never let- ting you out of my grip ever again!” And so we will cling to Him forever in love.

But until that glorious day, I will cling to Him in secret, and there I will give Him my love.

Secrets of the Secret Place

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