A simple doggerel quickly written down in an inconvenient moment came like a blast, and as soon as it came, it left. I was thinking of the ordinariness of God’s grace, and our apprehension of it. It passes over us, and lest we fail to reach out for it, it will pass us by. We must latch on to it, securing ourself by faith to it’s real presence. I only suppose it will take us to some real ‘impossible’ places.
Pearl grey with jaggedy edges
But with certain hope, we commence
Into it and all that it has for us
(We grasp for all that it has for us)
We take all that He has made for us
Rightfully and truly, surely constant
There is a grace that sustains the weary heart
And a hope that carries us far beyond
this real and precious moment
We rest in this present moment
We rest (and that is the right word)
In the God of the pearl grey
And this jaggedy moment.
I am not a poet, so I hope you are not traumatized by my effort, rather you take it for what it is worth. (I’ve got low expectations here). But please, reach out to His grace in whatever is happening in your life right now. He alone loves you as you deserve to be loved.
5 “You hem me in behind and before,and you lay your hand upon me.”
Psalm 139:5, NIV
There is a place where God quarantines you from the general population. This place is quite disconcerting and disrupting. You may not realize it, but He has placed us in seclusion for our own good. We will remain there until He decides to release us. We are not at liberty to serve as we wish.
Often our sin, and self-deception will be reason enough. King David writes of this place of being “hemmed’ in, and facing the world of separation. And indeed, it is isolated and detached, and without any real relief. You earnestly want to serve, but you’ve been blocked. You can’t minister the way you wish. Your gifting and opportunities are put on hold during this season.
Somehow, and in someway I want to encourage you. This is from His hand, and He has placed you:
in this moment,
for this time,
for His purpose.
You are not rejected, far from it. The Father only intends to separate you for a season until His purposes in you are completed. This is hard, and yet it is necessary. You are being detained for your own good.
Sometimes personal sin run rampant is the issue. Maybe you have tried to control yourself , but to no avail. The Holy Spirit will not utilize you until you will relinquish your sin. Here you sit on an edge, and that can be treacherous. You can’t minister from this place. Press into Romans 6 if you want His opinion on the matter.
Being quarantined is actually the best thing that could happen. Even though it is hard and seems unkind, it is actually a good thing. You are isolated until things of the heart are addressed and dealt with. Being “hemmed” in is challenging. You are confined for His purpose.
My heart is for you, I understand this moment. I suggest you embrace His work, and hang on to His will. He will use you, but in His time and place. He knows your heart to serve, and He will not stifle you in your gifting. But you must wait, rest, and cooperate. You must “walk by faith, and not by sight.”
20 “Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.”
Strangely compelling. This morning I found waiting for me a series of verses that link with each other. Together they are both irresistible and indispensable. Combined, they form and establish the eternal perspective for the believing Christian. And it is all very real.
Look for what links them. (All verses are from the New Living Translation.).
“Because I am righteous, I will see you. When I awake, I will see you face to face and be satisfied.”
Psalm 17:15
“Your eyes will see the king in all his splendor, and you will see a land that stretches into the distance.”
Isaiah 33:17
“Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!”
John 17:24
“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”
1 Corinthians 13:12
“Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.”
1 John 3:2
“And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads.”
Revelation 22:4
Living forever, and being changed irrevocably is the sole privilege of the believer. It’s what we long for– sort of a (good) divine madness that continues to drive us; a splinter in our hearts that we can’t expel. But even if we could, would we?
Eternal life has already started for us; I believe far more awaits.
Now on the final and most important day of the feast, Jesus stood, and He cried in a loud voice, If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink!
John 7:37, Amplified
The strangeness of this metaphor has never really been resolved in my thinking. There is one other which strikes me as incredibly odd; it is when Jesus declares that He is “the Bread of life” whom we must eat. With both of these I’m content right now to think that I am reaching through a cultural airlock, and things will resolve. It isn’t doubt, I’m just content to wait for it to be sorted out. I’m certain it shall be.
But I cannot minimize these declarations, and their significance. “I am the Water for this parched world. Come with your buckets and cups.” If we but think about this, there is an implied exclusivity. He has everything we need. And there is no one else. Also reading the text over again, I’m struck by the setting for this announcement.
They were standing in the Temple. Jesus had been unveiling His ministry to be messianic, and His presence to be divine. And the Temple and the feasts created the atmosphere for this dramatic revelation. And the best part was this, “everyone, anyone who understands having a thirst, can come to me, and drink me.”
I lived for three years in the deserts of Baja, Mexico. I learned about heat, and the exquisite value of water, and savoring it to the last mouthful. I saw spring rains soak the desolate terrain, and saw the awesome results of a blooming desert. And it was all about the water.
The world has been confronted by the real spiritual, and most don’t even understand this. But yet we all know there exists a powerful thirst. And thirst, is perhaps the best word to use. We walk through life parched and dried out, and nothing we’ve tried to drink has helped. There has been a joint effort by many brilliant minds, but it has completely and definitely failed.
“Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink— even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk— it’s all free!” -Isa. 55:1
Isaiah the prophet used the imagery of thirst. He has shown us that thereis somewhere (or more precisely “someone”) who has the fantastical ability of meeting our needs. I can’t say a lot about the “wine”, (but I’m sure it’s something good.) And the milk? Well growing up in rural Wisconsin, I drank lots and lots of wholesome raw milk, straight from the cow. With the cream four inches thick in our gallon jar. It was grand, I loved it!
When we follow Jesus, He provides what we need. When I come, as one of His flawed ones, He pays extra attention to me (at least that is what it feels like). Satan’s lies fall away, and my understanding grows as I drink Jesus.
Broken Believers 