Cling to the Lord

You know that Letterman bit "Is this anything?" Well, Manhattan is really something. But I'll write about that another time.

Last week I read about a technique for meditating on Scripture that I hadn't heard of before. It's called "MAP" Memorize. Analyze. Personalize. I've decided to do that to a verse I read the other day, 1 Corinthians 6:17 "But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him."

The context is fleeing sexual immorality. This is what you are supposed to do instead of joining yourself to a prostitute. It's a rather indelicate comparison.

Paul uses this word "is joined" (or "joins himself" is a better translation) because he is referencing Genesis 2:24. "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast [cleave, be joined] to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."

Paul is not the first one to take this language of marital intimacy and apply it to our relationship with the Lord. Rather, Paul is picking up on something found even in Moses. Check out these verses:

Deuteronomy 10:20 You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him,

Deuteronomy 13:4 You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life,

And, on the other hand, we must not cling to idols or to things devoted to destruction...

Deuteronomy 13:17 Nothing from that which is put under the ban shall cling to your hand, in order that the LORD may turn from His burning anger and show mercy to you

Joshua 23:11-13 Be very careful, therefore, to love the LORD your God. For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes,

2 Kings 3:2-3 He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, though not like his father and mother, for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless, he clung to the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from it.

So when we find ourselves clinging to our sins, when the idols are sticking to our hands, let us do like Hezekiah and David...

2 Kings 18:5-6 He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel; so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him. For he clung to the LORD;

Psalm 63:7-8 you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

Psalm 101:3 I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me.

So there's some analyzing, now for some personalizing. What is this going to look like for us? How shall we cling to the Lord when fleeing sexual immorality? Post a comment.

1 Corinthians 6:17 "But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him."