You are standing in the dark.  Under your feet you feel solid ground, but as you put your hand forward to see if there is something near you, you feel nothing.  You cannot even see your hand as it strains and gropes while you slowly pivot with your feet.  You can feel nothing.  What are you to do?  You panic.  You are alone.  Where are the walls?  What will happen if you walk forward?  Will you fall into a deep chasm or a bog and be lost forever?  What will you eat?  How will you find water?  Your heart pounds as the panic increases.  Your mind is full of unanswered questions.  Suddenly you hear a still, small voice out in the darkness, “Praise Me even when you cannot see me.”  You take a deep breath and begin singing “Jesus loves me this I know. . .” That is what you know.  That is the only thing you are sure of at this point.  You sing and sing and your heart begins to make up it’s own words as you praise God, the creator of the universe, and His Son, the one who died for you.  As the peace that passes all understanding begins to cover your heart, you do not feel alone anymore.  You see a small light ahead of you and you walk towards it.  You see that there is solid ground near the light.  As you draw closer, the light moves ahead just enough to light a small path for you.  You begin to see hills, and grass, and trees with fruit on them.  The light slows and you eat and drink from a stream that is flowing nearby.  You feel safe here and stop for a rest.  After a time the light dims again and appears to be asking you to follow it towards the darkness.  You hesitate.  You are comfortable here.  You have what you need.  You do not want to go out into the unknown again.  You decide to stay.  The light is gone now, but you remember where the tree is and where the water is.  You are safe.  As long as you stay right where you know, you will not get lost or fall.  As time passes, it becomes increasingly difficult to find the fruit, and what you do find is not satisfying.  It is under or over ripe.  The water is trickling now and tastes of bitter metal.  You become uneasy.  You no longer feel safe.  What are you going to do?  The panic begins to rise in you again.  You remember the light and want it to return.  You scream at the light and wonder why it left you.  You plead with it to come back.  You bargain with it and say you will never leave it again.  You cry and say you are sorry you didn’t follow.  It does not return.  There is a storm.  The wind blows harshly, the rain falls.  The stream becomes a river that is pushing you away from the solid ground you are familiar with.  The tree crashes down in the wind.  Everything you once knew is no longer stable.  You are alone again, and lost.  Then, as you are crying and all hope is lost, you remember the voice you once heard, “Praise Me even when you cannot see me.”  You begin to pray.  You feel bad that you did not follow the light.  You don’t know if the light will return because you abandoned it for your own comfort.   You know that if it doesn’t com back, you deserve to stay where you are and die.  You begin to see a faint glow in the distance.  Through your sobs, you hear and even softer and quieter voice than before, “You may have left me, but I will never leave you.  I am always with you, even if you choose not to follow My light.  Even if you choose to stay in the darkness, I am there.”  The glow gets lighter and you see that it is showing you a new path.  One you did not see the last time the light was with you.  You follow it.  As before, you can only see what is directly in front of you for many paces.  But you follow.  You don’t know if there will be water and fruit ahead, but you follow because it is better than where you were.  You follow.  The light, which has been a soft glow, pauses and becomes as bright as a sun.  You drop to the ground and cover your eyes.  When you feel you can, you slowly look around you.  Ahead of you, in the distance, you see a glorious city where there the light is bright all the time.  You see people like yourself eating from fruit trees which are larger and more glorious than your little tree you used to have.  The people are singing and dancing and angels are floating around with joy emanating from their very being.  There is a river that looks as if it will never go dry.  You see Jesus, sitting on His throne beside Your Heavenly Father, the Creator of it all.  Then you see Jesus walking among the people; laughing and singing together.  They are playing games and telling each other stories.  Jesus looks at you and waves.  You run to Him.  You want to be where those people are.  You want to sing and play with Jesus.  Your heart bursts at the thought of it.  As you run, you feet become heavy and you look down.  In front of you there is emptiness.  You are desperate to find a way.  You look and look.  The light is still bright around you, but it begins to dim in all areas but one far off place.  It is AWAY from Jesus.  You don’t want to go that way.  The light is AWAY from Jesus!  The words spin in your head and you cannot seem to push them away.  The light is AWAY from Jesus!  As the light around the city is dimming, you see Jesus pointing to the light.  You hear him whisper and even though He is far away, the voice is close in your ear, “I Am that Light.  The road to this city is narrow and full of danger, but if you follow the Light, it will lead you here.  And remember, I am always with you.”

You close your eyes and sigh deeply.  When you open your eyes, the city is gone.  Jesus is gone.  Wait, you feel Him near you.  As you slowly turn toward that light that was leading you away from the city, you feel Him more.  He is that Light.  You know it now, but you grieve for the vision you have lost.  The funnel has again been placed around you sight and you can only see the path illuminated ahead of you.  You have a new excitement, a new love for the Light.  You know where it is leading you and you are excited to get going.  You follow the light, not even looking to your right or left.  You know if you follow the light, you will find the city, you will be with Jesus!  The path is clear and clean and well illuminated.  You are enjoying the journey.  The vision of Jesus is close in your mind and it is feeding you along the way.  He is your sustenance.  He is your Joy.

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Scripture

¹ One day as Jesus was teaching the people and preaching the Good News in the Temple, the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders came up to him. ² They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?”³ “Let me ask you a question first,” he replied. ⁴ “Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?”

⁵ They talked it over among themselves. “If we say it was from heaven, he will ask why we didn’t believe John. ⁶ But if we say it was merely human, the people will stone us because they are convinced John was a prophet.” ⁷ So they finally replied that they didn’t know.

⁸ And Jesus responded, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Observation

The people who asked Jesus this question did not do so out of an earnest desire to learn the truth.  They were trying to trip Him up.  They thought about the answer they were to give and how it would effect their ultimate motive.  Jesus knew they were not sincere seeker of truth.  He did not feel the need to expand upon His answer in any way or justify Himself at all.  He didn’t argue with them or try to make them understand His point of view.  He knew it would do no good at all.  He did not waste His time.

Application

Occasionally we meet people who are hostile towards our faith in God.  They ask questions; sometimes in the guise of truly wanting to know.  But they are just trying to trip us up.  They want us to say something that will make them feel better for not believing the way we do or give them ammunition to refute our beliefs.  They are not truth seekers, but journalists.  They want to pick out the parts of our words that justify their ends.  We should not feel compelled to answer these questions.  How do we know the intention of the person asking the questions?  God will let us know.  As we draw closer to Him, we can hear His voice and learn His emotions.  We will know if we should engage in a theological debate or not.  Sometimes a person may appear outwardly hostile, but they are really seeking the truth.  God can help us differentiate.

Prayer

Lord, teach me to know when to talk about my faith in You to other people.  I don’t want to miss any opportunities to share You with unbelievers, but I don’t want to cast pearls before swine either.  Jesus knew Your heart and He knew when to engage.  I want to know Your heart the way Jesus did.

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Recently my church had a series called “When Life Hurts Most” that really expounded on my previous post about living through pain.  Many people commented about that post through personal e-mail and shared their own experiences with me, so I would like to add what I learned from our recent series.  (Incidentally, I love hearing your comments and stories and if you don’t feel comfortable posting it on my site just say “great post” or some such under the comment section and then send me a personal e-mail.  That way it will actually look like people read this stuff!)

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Daily Reading:

Jeremiah 1,2
John 10

Too (fill-in-the-blank) for God’s service

Scripture

“O Sovereign Lord,” I said, ” I can’t speak for you!  I’m too young!”  The Lord replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you.” Jeremiah 1:6-7

Observation

Jeremiah thought he was too young to be used by God.  There is always a weakness in our lives that we believe will hinder God from using us.  Too fat, too slow, too poor, too tired, too uneducated, too tied down, too (fill-in-the-blank).  There are many instances in the Bible where God uses people in spite of their percieved weaknesses.  Jesus said, “My grace is all you need.  My power works best in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Application

Whatever is in my life that is hindering me from submitting to be used by God, I need to realize that He is in control.  If He has called me to do something then He will make it happen.  Actually, it takes the stress out of it, because now it is out of my hands.  I can’t Lord, but You can.  How do I submit?  By daily seeking to know Christ more and more.  As I spend more time with Him, I will become more like Him and I will be able to hear His voice more clearly.

Prayer

Dear Jesus, help me to know and understand that even though I am weak, You are strong.  If there is something You want me to do that I am not doing, please reveal it to me.  Thank-you that your grace is all I need.

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