Isaiah 60:1
Arise, shine..for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon you.
If you look at the picture above, you'll see an individual in the lower left hand portion. A teeny, tiny little person in this huge cave. Symbolically, that would be me wandering through life. There are times when I feel (there's the real "F" word...feel) like I am but a speck of dust in the whole cosmos thing. You know when those feelings come up the most? When I began to look outside myself and my relationship with Jesus. When I start looking around at all the "stuff' that keeps getting in the way of this journey I'm on. When I compare my journey with others and what they are going through..I loose focus and begin to drift. I fall into the "Why-not-just-quit-you-are-not-really-making-a-difference" mindset. Dangerous turf to tread, especially when it's all in my head.
It is during times of these struggles that I suddenly find myself standing in the light and illumination of God. A verse suddenly comes to life as I am reading my Bible. Or I feel His presence and a thought forms in my mind that brings encouragement. No matter how it comes, it always reminds me that life is a struggle. I know....I know...we want life and being a follower of Jesus to be like a week at Disney World, just not so crowded. You know what I mean...we don't have to stand in line to ride the rides because we have the golden ticket that lets us go to the head of the line. Nice thought, but life is grounded in some hard truth.
Good news is that no matter how hard the reality, God is there to help me get through it. No matter what the struggle is, He will strengthen to fight on. NO matter how many questions I have that seem to go unanswered, He tells me that it will all balance out in the end. All my questions will be answered.
So yeah, life is like wandering around that dark cave sometimes. Life is that place where you don't really understand why things are happening to you like they are. You do have a gazillion questions, but then the light of God shines down into your spirit. That worship song you've been singing suddenly takes on life of its own and becomes more than words and notes. It becomes a war cry to the heavens that God is indeed in control. That He truly does carry the title of being King over everyone who would lay claim to being king, and He is Lord over everyone who would call themselves Lord.
I got up this morning at 3:30. I have an office I clean (been doing it 23 years this September 1st).I took Danny Daniels with me this morning to help me while I cleaned. Not the real person, but his voice. I had downloaded a teaching he did onto my mp3 player. There among the garbage collecting and the wiping down of the rooms, God came and met with me. Somewhere around room #3 of the exam rooms, God showed up and I had to stop and just be with Him. It wasn't a long drawn out time, but was a moment where everything became clear. The questions I had been asking this week were answered in a simple "because I love you..and I love those who are coming on Saturday Night." You know...all my "why's?" and "What for's?" fell away and I stood there, like that person in the picture. Standing in the light of God's goodness.
Things in my life had not really changed, but everything seemed to have been put in order. Just from that small moment when God became real.
Maranatha, Lord Jesus!
God on you....
mb
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