When That
Which Calls You Wounds You
God is a God of promises. How many times have we heard that?
How many of us can rest in it truly? I am the guy who when you tell me that
will look for the proviso’s and the asterisks in the contract. Thank God, he is
covenantal, not contractual.
What is less popular to say is that God will answer those
promises in His time. If you are like me, I want it to be in my time. I am Chronos time – linear and if this then
this will happen. God is Kairos time,
He promised, and He will deliver. However, it will likely be in a manner we do
not expect.
In 2005 God gave me a promise that I have held onto. I have
worked towards it, laid a firm foundation, examined and re-examined my
character and my heart and my life in preparation. But if I had my way, in 2005
that promise would have been fulfilled right then and there and I would be that
which God has called me to be. The suck part of that is, I would not have the
character needed to do that which he has said I would do. I would be a burned-up
pile of rubble on the Roman road to their vision of progress. I would not even
be a cog in a wheel on the stage coach using the road to progress. I would be a
pile of ash the local farmers were using to fertilize the fields to empress the
emperor as he rode by. Burned up, useless, a no-one.
The above scripture was given by James to the remnant of
Israel that somehow survived the sacking of Jerusalem. In 70 A.D., the Romans
had enough of the subversives and decided to be done with them. They did a
remarkably precise job in breaking them down and demoralizing them to the point
that some of those who survived just walked off a cliff to not need to deal
with the consequences of Rome’s actions. And yet, here is James telling them to
consider it to be joy. I would be reading this thinking James got himself some
good reefer and was being ridiculous. Except, he was not. He was reminding them
to endure, and the best way to endure is with joy in your heart.
Joy is an elusive concept because only you can decide for
you if you are joyful. Only you can look at your life and say, “this is joy” –
no one can or will define it for you. Joy is a slippery thing, and often the
moment we say we have it, it gets slippery and tries to leave. We must continually
and actively cultivate the heart of joy and gratitude. How do you cultivate joy
while embracing the suck? I am not sure. I think contemplating eternity helps
though.
I love reading about all the new discoveries we are finding
in our galaxy. It is incredible to see what we are beginning to see and just
begin to comprehend about the universe and our place in it. What I am learning
more and more is just how old and how beautiful our universe is. God’s
handiwork on display as the psalmist puts it. For me, this calms my soul.
Knowing that God of the universe who has been creating for an eternity that we
cannot even truly comprehend, made a covenant with me. Not a contract, no
proviso’s, a covenant. God is for me always, and he will allow the pain to
develop a covenantal Carl. One who will hold onto Him and His words, even when
it does not make sense.
Israel has seen God’s faithfulness amid so much pain. Israel
is still so much of God’s pleasure and He is creating a lover for Himself in
them – but also in us. How cool is that? We are being shaped, molded, prodded,
begged o change in character to be that which we are designed to be, all by the
God of eternity.
I could go on and on, but I have an appointment under the
stars with my creator. Want to come join me? Let us search His innumerable and incalculable
universe together and talk about God’s promises to us.
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