I would like to talk about the sin of familiarity. What I mean to say is, as we draw near to Him by His invitation, as we become intimate with God, we must remember we are like Esther. Like us, her husband was also her king (and everyone else's!). Our God declared to Israel "Your Maker is your husband". Gentiles (non-Jewish) believers who call themselves "Christians" are actually Israelites, for they've been grafted into the natural Olive tree - Israel. So, our Maker is now our husband too! (Is:54:5)
We are all called into a "Song of Solomon" type of relationship with our God/Husband - but as in Esther's day, when many were called, only she was chosen - God told me once "There are many who come to the (wedding) altar and pledge their love to Me, but few consummate the marriage".
Yet, for those who do lie at His feet, as Ruth did before Boaz, and ask Him to "spread therefore thy skirt over thy handmaid", we enter into a joyously intimate relationship with Him whereby He plants His seed deeply in our hearts (our hearts are the spiritual soil whereby spiritual seeds are planted), that we may bear Him "much fruit" but as we enjoy Him heart to heart, spirit to spirit (much more satisfying than flesh to flesh), we must remember to hold Him in deepest reverence. We even fear and tremble at times as we become aware of how awesome He really is - the all-encompassing authority and power He wields, indeed He is the source of all legitimate authority, His power infinite. It would behoove us to listen to Naomi. Being a humble, godly woman, Ruth obeyed her instructions. There is so much the Church could learn from Israel if she would humble herself and listen. Think of it - almost all Old Testament and New were written by Jews. What a gift they've been to the world!
Listen to Naomi's instructions to Ruth - 'Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee and get thee down to the floor".
Now listen to Jeremiah 4:14 - "Wash thine heart from wickedness" and Jesus' counsel to the Church of the Laodiceans, which included putting on raiment and anointing oneself - when we wash our hearts with the Word of God, when we are anointed of the Holy Spirit who is "given (to) us (as) the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts", when we put on "Robes of Righteousness", we become pleasing to God. When we lie still and don't seek to impress Him with our many words, we please Him. Many ask for the Blood covering so they may enter Heaven and be with Him when they die. Far fewer ask for the "skirt covering" so they may enter into Him (and He into them) now, before we die,
Will you and the Lord write your own "Song of Solomon" together? Will you sing your own personal song of love to each other? Or will you only read about it in a book?
My Beloved is mine and I am His
and I have kept myself for a time such as this.
His coming is near as the Dawn to my eyes
this longing of mine is soon satisfied.
Come quickly, Lord Jesus, says The Spirit, says The Bride,
I'll not arise complete till you draw me to your side...
My God, in my heart is an all-consuming fire,
Come quickly, Lord Jesus, for its you I now desire....

Fiery Darts of the Wicked

Satan's ministry is to weave a carefully crafted tapestry of lies to ensure we never come to know the Truth. He seeks to blind us all from ever seeing the Truth and he seeks to deafen us to the point that we cannot recognize the Truth when we hear him.
But if in spite of all his efforts we arrive at the Truth and embrace him with all our hearts, Satan will use his offspring to hurl "fiery darts" at us. These darts are his fierce opposition to Christ and all who belong to him. There are darts of slander, full of false accusations, against Christ's word, his people and his presence. There are darts of doubt and unbelief - contradicting and twisting the Word of God at every opportunity. There are also darts of flattery designed to spoil the offspring of God of their God given spirit of humility and get them puffed up with pride and a haughty spirit (Dan:11:21).
All these must be resisted with unshakable faith as a shield - "able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked" (Eph:6:16). Let me tell you something - do you know best quenches fire? Water of course! Jesus through Paul says he can sanctify and cleanse us "with the washing of water by the Word" hallelujah! The best defense against Satan's "fiery darts of the wicked" is to keep our hearts soaked in the Water of his Word (Jer:4:14) - it's also the only way to ensure the word planted in our hearts like seed will grow up into a good crop that bears much fruit unto God. A "word soaked heart" is a mighty deterrent,  a shield against the multitude of lies the enemy hurls at us as we lie out our lives on this earth, so hell-bent on denying Christ their eternal souls. A "word soaked heart" is full of faith - the faith of the Son of God, and a heart like this is full of "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" whereby we can discern and slay every lie of the enemy, as Jesus did in the desert encounter he had with Satan. Satan may even teach the Word to us as along as he can get us to not follow God's ways...which are just as important as his word. "Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day".
Reader - we are living in the "evil day" now, when "They will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the Truth and shall be turned unto CNN" (just kidding, it says "fables", which is what we hear a lot of on CNN is we're silly enough to listen to them....but we also hear plenty of "fables" from pulpits across the land each week). (2 Tim:4:3&4).
I pray you will not falter but stand in spite of all the enemy's fiery darts hurled against you. "Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might". For it is not by might, nor by power but it is by Spirit that we prevail, Amen and amen. 

The story of Abraham's call to sacrifice his son is such an uplifting and redemptive story. Of course it illustrates our Father's sacrifice of His son, Jesus, but it also shows us that sacrifice is a part of the calling of all who follow in the faith of our father Abraham. For us, we get to present our bodies as "a living sacrifice", we get to "die daily". What a concept! We must die to ourselves, our will, to our fleshly lusts and desires in order to live by faith - not just of Abraham but of the Son of God (Gal:2:20). When we die to ourselves - when, by faith, we put ourselves on the Cross with Jesus (I used to see myself at the foot of the Cross, now I see myself on the Cross, dying with Christ, that I may also live with him), we may experience the power of his resurrection coursing through our souls. We must not therefore cling to this brief spark of life that is our flesh, rather we should wholeheartedly embrace the resurrection life Jesus died to give us.
But Abraham's story of sacrifice has one important difference from our own - Yes, we are called to sacrifice ourselves but he was told to sacrifice his son - which is far more difficult to do. Any good parent can testify - we will gladly lay our lives down on behalf of our children, indeed, may do that each day they labor to provide their children with a safe, happy and healthy childhood. We make sacrifices, large and small, on behalf of our children (like selling our entire collection of Beatle's CD's so the kids can have a decent Christmas). If necessary, we will die physically for them, if it would save them but it is unthinkable that we would take our own child's life - yet Abraham was willing to do just that because his faith and trust in his God was so unwavering that he truly believed if he slew his own son in obedience to the God who miraculously gave him that son to begin with, then God would raise him from the dead because God had promised Abraham "I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee" (both natural and supernatural kings have come from him, through his children of his flesh and his children of his faith). Indeed, when God said unto him "Abraham and he said Behold, here I am"- Abraham was reminded of God's promise to him for God himself had renamed him from Abram "exalted father" to Abraham "Father of a multitude". Awesome thing to call him considering he was childless at the time! So every time Abraham heard his name his faith was bolstered. When he went to plunge the knife into Isaac's heart he was doing so in obedience to the Word of God - just as Peter did when he stepped out of the boat and walked on water. In Peter's case it was his own life at stake, in Abraham's it was his son's but in both cases the trusted God completely. Even as the journeyed to the place of sacrifice (real sacrifice takes real effort on our part - it isn't sitting in an air-conditioned pew and giving our money, it's far more than that). Isaac was wondering "where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" Abraham's prophetic, faith-filled reply was "God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering". Hallelujah! In accordance to Abraham's word (his heart expressed verbally), they did indeed find a ram caught in a thicket by his horns, but Abraham's words could still be heard far into the future by all with ears to hear as they gazed upon the sacrificial lamb of God, given once, for all mankind, bleeding on the Cross of Calvary, caught in the thicket of man's treachery and sin - "GOD WILL PROVIDE HIMSELF - A LAMB - FOR AN OFFERING", Amen and Amen 

By staying on the operating table and allowing Him to circumcise our hearts - to cut away with the sword of His Spirit all our fleshly, carnal, lusts and desires - all that resists and rebels against him - by seeking Him, by loving Him with all our hearts daily - by making Him our chief joy - by seeking Him in the valley moments of our lives (our lily) as well as on the mountain top moments, where we mount up with eagle's wings, simply put, we plow our hearts by falling in love with Him.
When you first come to Him, when He first comes to you (though he's been with you from the beginning, only you didn't recognize Him), you may be shy, tentative, even fearful, but over time - as you get to know him better, your heart should allow him (and his seed) to go deeper and deeper, amen. Deep calls unto Deep - from the depths of his heart to the depths of our heart. He does not want a passionless relationship with us, sterile and fruitless. Read Song of Solomon, then read it again. It's in the Bible for a reason and it's placed just before Isaiah for a reason - becoming intimate with him opens our hearts to hear him - to hear the Word of the Lord. He approaches us as "THE WORD" when he has an open heart and open ear, amen.
In order to know Him as the "Word of The Lord" (Jer:1:4) we must first know him as the Lord of The Word. If not, we will exalt his own word over him - by this I mean we'll be in danger of wielding the written word as the Pharisees did - with pride, missing him completely when the Lord himself comes to visit our hearts Even daring to tell him what his own word means, instead of listening to him tell us what the understanding of it is. 

God did not just create Adam and then Eve, then leave them alone to carry on with their lives, no, he sought them out for fellowship "and they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day". God was actually enjoying all he created, for all he created was good! He was enjoying his garden "and the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden", he was enjoying the day "and God said let there be light; and God called the light Day", and he was enjoying Man "and The Lord God formed Man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" - So we see, our God is someone who heartily enjoys all he's created - including you and I, if we choose not to hide from him, as Adam and Eve eventually did because they paid attention to Satan's voice, which, when they did, they stopped taking heed of God's voice.
The question God asked Adam on the day he listened to Satan is a question he is asking all who hide from him - "where are you?" "Where are you my child?" "It's lonely here in paradise without you. I miss you. Where have you gone?" Of course he knew where Adam was and he knew why Adam wasn't at their daily rendezvous - just as he knows where every soul is today who is avoiding his presence. The question is rhetorical - he wants anyone not in fellowship with him to ask themselves - Where am I? Why am I hiding from Him? The answer to this single question could determine someone's eternal fate - because if you are hiding from him, especially if you are hiding your nakedness, you have lost the innocence of a child, of which Jesus said we must "receive the kingdom as a little child". A little child has no idea his nakedness is shameful because it isn't - they joyfully bathe in front of their parents or siblings and run around the house or out in the yard completely naked not giving a thought to the fact they are naked as the day they were born. If we then, hide ourselves from him, or worse, seek to cover ourselves in his presence, it's because we've listened to Satan's voice, who always instructs us in the path of disobedience to God, and as any child who disobeys his parents then comically tries to hide it, can attest, this is foolish indeed. A soul who is hiding their shame and guilt because of their sin (disobedience) is a soul still listening to Satan's voice because if they'll hear God's voice they'll hear him tell them "I've covered your sin and the shame that comes from it, I've removed all blame because I want you right back here with me."
God desires our presence - not to punish us but to enjoy us. Just as he did with Adam in the garden, he wants to walk with us in the cool of the day. As a father myself I can tell you children often seek their fathers for what they can get from them - I want this! I want them to come to me for whatever their heart desires....but the most delightful child is the one who loves just being with daddy. If we learn this truth - that our heavenly Father deeply enjoys just being with us - then we should respond by deeply enjoying just being with Him "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord." "My soul, wait only upon God." "When you said seek my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face Lord will I seek." "I will seek him whom my soul loveth." "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near."
Jesus himself clearly expresses his heart to us - "Seek and ye shall find - ME!" Where are you?