Views From Within The Beauty

Beauty is not only in the eye of the beholder, it is also in the eye of the Creator.



Perhaps the colors I see are only pale shadows of what I will see in heaven, but I truly enjoy the approximation here.  It is still the Sculptor of delicate petals and the Painter of vibrant colors I have to thank.  He is the One presenting these things to me, showing off, but the One who should be.

Is the color beneath the waves any less vibrant?  It's as if the very water itself glows with color and life.  Again the Sculptor and Painter presents His work, only this time we had to dive for it.

The closest approximation of people and technology just cannot touch the vibrancy of my Master.  How can I not point to the wonders of my Master and praise Him?  But how do I do it so others realize the beauty and think to praise?  I try.  That in and of itself will go a long way.  It could be that my Master will make up the difference.

Faith With Weakness

From earlier posts, Chambers seems to see the daily grind of life as the place that faith is built and practiced.  Here he puts the test into dramatic events.  Dramatic events are where the character of God is obscured or possibly made invisible and the question is whether I will continue to believe in His divinely revealed character described in Scripture.

 

The three Hebrew men in Daniel before the furnace are one example.  The trial of Job is another example.  In both of these examples, there was no assurance or voice of God to assure deliverance.  Each of these had to come to terms with not being delivered and still holding on to their faith.  That’s a test.

 

I have run out of some things I take everyday, two prescriptions for conditions I have.  One of those conditions I had hoped would be temporary, and I could just fade off the stuff and it wouldn’t be any big deal, no one would notice.  Nope.  It shows.  I really do have this weakness, and I really do need a drug to help me fight my depression.  I go to the doctor tomorrow, so it’s no big deal.  But it does show me that the submission I needed almost a year ago I still need.  That’s not what I had hoped for, but it’s what I suspected.

 

That is not a test of faith.  Such a revelation is not a time of not seeing the qualities of my Master but still needing to believe.  Instead, it’s a test of my pride.  I have a weakness, but am I willing to submit to it?  There is a problem with me that affects my mind, am I willing to admit such a thing?  It has been a week, and my emotions have been all over the place, and now I am struggling with sleeping, getting up in the morning (I seem more tired), the anger hasn’t showed up yet, but with being tired, it’s just a matter of time.  The frustration riding below the surface is ripe for me since my job jumped into hyper-speed last month.  I’ve started eating emotionally again, and I have a slight weight gain.

 

I suppose I could wait for more symptoms, but why?  If other indications are here, do I need to crater before I admit my weakness?  Why would I do that?  It’s not a test of my faith, of my belief in the qualities of my Master when I bring myself to the brink, threatening to jump over.  It’s a test of my pride, my willingness to submit to my Master’s wisdom in making me as I am, not as my ideal would be.  The way He has made me requires dependence and submission to Him.  The way I want to be looks good to others.  I show strength and love the attention.  I already know that is way of death, it stinks of it.  Why would I find that path attractive still? 

 

I am truly one sick puppy still.  I am still totally dependent upon my Master, His grace, His mercy, and His power.  I am what He has made me, with all the weaknesses that direct me to Him.  I am in need of a Savior still.  That is who I am, and who I remain.  Now, allow me to speak of Who has made me this way.

 

The Master of the universe makes stars even now.  He expands the reaches of the universe beyond the human ability to measure, and yet traces the patterns of the invisible material making up sub-atomic particles.  He defies human desires to reach beyond the planet they live on with a force we cannot live without, nor replicate effectively enough to take with us from earth; gravity.  He has trapped us here, yet allowed us to look out on His creation, given us minds to consider it, wonder about it, and think about its origins.  It points to Him, and He uses it as one of many markers of His presence and power.  In His desire for His human creatures, He made it possible where we could not, to relate to Him passed the inherent nature of rebellion against Him.  He did so by paying the requirement of His awesome wrath through Himself, the Son.  He took on Himself the penalty required by His holy nature and formed the only way we can relate to Him.  He went to this extreme for His human creatures in spite of the continued rebellion we perpetuate in His presence.  He sacrificed His Son for us, and we treat with contempt such an action on our behalf.  And still He loves us.  Still my Master calls to us, still my Master reaches out to this world which tries in vain to bite His hands filled with peace and love.  The creatures looking out on His vast creation and seeking to see the infinite dimensions of the building blocks of matter, matter that together lives, all are in rebellion against Him as feral beasts little better than the beasts they study.  And yet He loves still, He does not repent the sacrifice made, He does not retract His outstretched hand.

 

So, what, will I rail against the One who made me with my weakness?  Will I cry foul because I’m not what I think I should be or not what I want to be?  How can I believing the previous paragraph?  What’s the problem not solved by His outstretched hand?  Where is the room for pride or self-righteousness?  What else can I do besides reach for His hand and accept what He has?  If that gift does not cure my weakness, I will boast it that weakness because it has forced me into the lap of my Master.  I will point to His grace which is sufficient, that makes any weakness trivial, that shows off more what my Master can do and His power more than anything I can do without power.

 

Jesus is my Master, He loves me, He has my back, and I am at His service.

 

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, October 31

Work or Stay Home Sick? What Would Jesus Have Me Do?

Today I feel better, but not great.  I am still sick and I will attempt to go into work and last as long as I can.  I need a shave, to wash my hair, and a hair cut.  The hair cut will have to wait.  Sure I have things to do at work today.  I have email to catch up on, I have phone messages to answer, and I have lots of work from the convention that needs to be entered and followed up upon.  I will b busy.  My head will be fuzzy.  And I will very tired.  So why go?

The entry for today talks of my Master’s appearance to the Apostle John while he was exiled on Patmos.  The response of John when he sees my Master in His glory is to fall as dead at His feet.  The reason is that John had not seen Jesus in this way before.  He had seen Him as a Son of Man, and he had seen Him transfigured.  But this vision he has of my Master is very different, and not familiar.  John was given a gift to see my Master in a new, more powerful way.

I go to work, not because I have been given a new vision of my Master which makes me fall as if dead.  I go to work because I have already seen my Master as One enduring suffering on behalf of others.  I go for my team.  I will be gone as of next month, and what I do now matters little to my pay check.  But the team is behind, my month is behind, and, although my year-to-date is just fine, I have a contribution to make.  I go for others.

On the other hand, what disease I have is communicable, and my team can easily become infected with it.  I run the risk that it can be transmitted airborne, so just breathing the same air with me is dangerous.  So, how is this really for others?  Am I not putting them in danger even as I claim to be working on their behalf?

Well, yes.  But my Master sought people who were not convenient.  I read of Him going where He was out of place.  Sure there is the risk that what I have is able to be spread to my team, but I have measures I can take.  The need out weighs the risk.

The other reason I go is because I am not sure that I will be able to last all day.  I go because I know I can at least make a start on my duties.  I hope to last all day, but I will need to balance that with how effective I am being versus how dangerous I am being.

What I really want is a new powerful vision of Jesus.  I want a vision of my Master that causes me to fall down as if dead.  I have seen things that have taken my breath away, but a vision of Him I still lack.  I want the effect of driving out fear, the effect of grounding faith so that I can move on to higher ground of belief and experience.

It all sounds very dramatic and impressive, but my Master has lots of other ways to draw me deeper into Him.  My imagination failed to see the option from my work which He brought into play.  He may not decide to provide that way, but it was a reminder and an assurance that He will provide.  That was something less dramatic which took me into deeper faith with Him.  I can rest in the promise that He has my back, and walk obediently in peace.

I will go into work and see what happens.  I may stay or I may not.  I will obey the prompting of my Master and leave or stay at His command.  Perhaps on the way there or once there I will be given the gift of a vision of Him.  Or perhaps, I will know the peaceful grace of assurance of His care.  It’s a win-win day of blessing ahead for me.

Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost For His Highest": May 24th.

The Glory of God in a Cracked Pot–Do You See It?

In 2 Corinthians 4:10, Paul is wrapping up an unhappy list of afflictions that believers suffer, along with the corresponding assertion that the believer still survives it.  It is “happy” that the believer survives, but it is difficult to believe that followers of Jesus would be very effective at sharing the “good news” of Jesus using this passage.  At least it would seem so on the surface. 

Paul wraps up the examples of harsh living with “always carrying about the death of Jesus in the body so that the life of Jesus might be revealed in the body.”  This statement is a great way to cap off the preceding verses of survived strife.  And it would seem that it would be the least attractive way to convince someone to believe Jesus has any “good news” available.  But when the list is really examined, what is found is that it contains much that is common in life.  The statement bandied about by most parents (probably in every culture on the planet) that “life is not fair” is so common because it’s true.  In many ways, in all walks of life, in a multitude of circumstances, life is tough.  What is so remarkable about these statement is the victory implied by each, including the last.  The last says that the reason for the victory through life, as bad as it may be, is that Jesus’ resurrection might be proven to be true.

So, when I “suffer” in this unfair life, the victory of my endurance and perseverance displays the power and life of my Master.  I am clearly not equal to the task.  For instance, when it became clear to me that my Master wanted my family and I to move out of state to assist my in-laws, I didn’t hesitate.  We set a date, marked the calendar, rented a truck for that date, and are ready to go.  That is without prospects of job, house, or anything else.  People asked us and looked at us like we were nuts, sort of.  There was this marvel in their eyes.  And it was clearly a mental reassessment of who we are, and what our lives are about.  We simply said our family needs us and we’re going.  As we do so, and people witness this peaceful working out of such a decision, I think it becomes clear that the difference about us has to come from somewhere else.  People just don’t do such things, not normally.  So, the only thing they know about me that explains this difference is my belief in my Master.  That is what is different about me from them, and they know that.  So, as I go through this transition, it is my Master Who shines through. 

This is true even though they know of failures on my part.  I have owned them.  Perhaps they have seen some changes lately, but I have not denied my failures.  So, what they witness is an admitted imperfect follower of Jesus, who, when it comes down to the tough choices just does the right thing.  The trust in being cared for is clear, and just as clear is that there is nothing tangible, just trust.  So, the clarity of my Master’s glory is still not as clear as it would be through a cleaner vessel, but His mercy and grace could not be more evident.  I’m a cracked pot containing the unimaginable treasure of the glory of the Master of the Universe.  It’s hard not to tell what’s inside when the outside is so broken.  The holes in my character are the spaces in my life where my Master shines the brightest.

Now, as it turns out, the imagination of my Master has exceeded my own once again.  A possibility has arisen which may hold the opportunity of moving but still maintaining my job.  There are hurdles to be worked out, but the possibility is still there.  Even if it does not work out, that my Senior Supervisor even suggested it means a lot to me.  So I am once again blessed beyond my own qualities.  I pray that either way this option turns out that my Master’s grace and power once again shines bright through the gaps in my life.  I believe it will.  It has so far, and this does not take away something I have now, rather holds out the possibility of adding.  I truly have nothing to loose, so the blessing is there either way.  And this is evidence to which I cling, evidence that my Master will provide one way or the other from an imagination I cannot hope to match.  Call it faith if you want, but to me, once evidence like this shows up, it seems too easy to believe to call faith.  But, on the other hand, it makes it easier to step out on faith for all the other decisions I make.

Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost For His Highest": May 14th.

Intercession to Whom?

The times I have been through the letter to the Hebrews, I have not reached the conclusion Chambers derives from verse 10:19.  Part of the reason why is an assumption on my part that I’m not supposed to intercede for others as if I know what God should do.  I save that ridiculous attitude for when I pray for myself.  Perhaps I used to pray for others that way.  I remember having a rather emotional discussion with a Korean student in my community college days about that issue.  She was very upset with God for allowing a woman to die, a friend of hers, who had a young daughter, a husband, and was herself very young.  Her question was why would God allow that?  I didn’t have an answer since the question is unanswerable on this side of heaven.  But I did have enough sense to encourage her to believe that whatever this circumstance may look like to her, God is still God, and His character remains intact.  She didn’t consider that much of an answer.

But there are other elements to a response that I did not have at the time.  For instance, as the latter part of verse 10:19 of Hebrews points out, the boldness to enter before our Master comes by means of the blood of Jesus!  So, after that, at what point am I justified in imputing a character flaw to my Master?  Where is the sense in complaining about a particular desire or idea of mine when I am conscious of what He has already done for me?  How can anything I want or think is important compare to what I already have through my Master?  Seriously, the perspective of anything viewed through the lens of the Cross and Empty Grave seems small and insignificant.  The irony is that, because of my Master’s interest in my life, He considers those things anyway.  He just considers my right relationship with Him to be more important.  When the relationship with Him is where it needs to be, then my desires match His anyway.

The necessity of a submissive aspect when interceding I would think is obvious.  I would expect that anyone approaching the Master of the Universe would do so in a penitent fashion.  If someone does not, they are not approaching the Master of the Universe, but rather some image they have invented in their mind.  The entrance to the Master of the Universe “loosens the bowels” to put it mildly.  It is the stuff of Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1, it frightens, it shocks, it silences, it shows the paltriness of my holiness compared to His glory, it reveals the true meaning of “shock and awe”.  It is not possible to enter with a “-tude” and “be like all” anything.  The presence of my Master crushes the spirit, and as He bids me stand, my spirit is rebuilt without the props and pretenses.  The boldness I have before my Master is as a Knight of the Realm and Servant of the King, a status I hold because it was given, not because it was earned in anyway.

How is it that Moses was required to be hidden and see only the trailing filaments of the glory of the Master, but some who claim to be believers feel free to defiantly dictate terms to Him?  That baffles me.  Who are they talking to anyway?  It’s not the Master, Creator, Sustainer, and King of all Creation.  It can’t be.  It has to be some propped-up, straw-filled, empty-headed effigy of some weak and simple… I can’t even call it a god.  Even the pagans following other gods have some sense of reverence for them.  I have no idea what people talk to without a reverence that shatters the very soul.  I don’t even know what to call it.

To my Master I do complain of my circumstances.  I do plead for what I want selfishly.  I do seek my own interests rather than His.  But I do so on my knees.  Sure I’m stupid, but I know Who I speak to.  It is in these times of my complaint that He begins the transformation (or continues it – I don’t always cooperate very well) from self-focused to Jesus-focused.  He asks me to stand on the outside of the cave because He is about to pass by.  He seeks to draw me with a bush that is not consumed by fire.  He visits me as I rest beneath a tree, or thresh wheat in a wine press, or as I sleep.  He leads me somewhere else where He wants me to work with Him.  Sometimes I follow, sometimes I miss my queue, overshoot my mark, and end up in the wrong place at the wrong time.  But I do not forget Who I am supposed to be serving.  I may struggle with my belief or faith, but I do not forget in Whom that belief and faith are supposed to be.

I know exactly why I don’t understand my Master completely and can’t explain Him adequately.  I know precisely why I am trapped on this planet, a slave to gravity, yet able to gaze at the universe in wonder.  I get that part.  I am created, and so is the universe I view.  And there is no possible way I can fully comprehend the entirety of this creation, and therefore fully the Person responsible for it.  That make perfect sense to me.  I would think that any contact with such a Person would be a dramatic and possibly traumatic assault on my senses.  If there is no such drama or trauma, I would then wonder who I address instead.

Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost For His Highest": May 4th.