Monday, July 22, 2013
Lessons in Waiting, from Streams in the Desert, July 22
"And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you...blessed are all they that wait f or him" (Isa. 30:18).
"We must not only think of our waiting upon God, but also of what is more wonderful still, of God's waiting upon us. The vision of Him waiting on us, will give new impulse and inspiration to our waiting upon Him. It will give us unspeakable confidence that our waiting cannot be in vain. Let us seek even now, at this moment, in the spirit of waiting on God, to find out something of what it means. He has inconceivably glorious purposes concerning every one of His children. And you ask, "How is it, if He waits to be gracious, that even after I come and wait upon Him, He does not give the. help I seek, but waits on longer and longer?"
God is a wise husbandman, "who waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it." He cannot gather the fruit till it is ripe. He knows when we are spiritually ready to receive the blessing to our profit and His glory. Waiting in the sunshine of His love is what will ripen the soul for His blessing. Waiting under the cloud of trial, that breaks in showers of blessings, is as needful. Be assured that if God waits longer than you could wish, it is only to make the blessing doubly precious. God waited four thousand years, till the fullness of time, ere He sent His Son. Our times are in His hands; He will avenge His elect speedily; He will make haste for our help, and not delay one hour too long. --Andrew Murray"
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
The Fleeting Moment
In thinking about love had and lost, faces possibly never to be seen again, the spirit of a person no longer in my life, the slow fading of all things.... It is a fascinating thing that the mind tries to process the passing by of life. Actually, it is fascinating that the mind processes.
Dear memories may be visited, but never again experienced and enjoyed. They may be brought up again by a face from the past, and still the nostalgia cannot be repeated. New life must come and new moments to be had. There are the good moments of family, God, and restoration... But there is the bad moment I wish to process before you; I call him the "fleeting moment:"
The fleeting moment is the great taunter of life; he promises worldly satisfaction, arrival, pleasure, happiness, and a certain spark of life that somehow everyone is dying to have. The fleeing moment is a great boaster and so hypnotically attractive, that the whole world lusts to have him. He has become the goal of the lives of many. How can he possibly be attained? The conditions are lavish - an all-encompassing pursuit - because, he will always be just one more step ahead, beyond one more thing to buy, one more experience to have, and then beyond just still one more... then only one more, everyone is sure of it. But like a sour sting, again the moment is running just a little too far ahead, like a little wisp of faint light evading all grasp. Lives are completely exhausted and consumed to catch this fleeting moment that never happens and never satisfies. The life lived for the pursuit of pleasure drives all to their deaths... The fleeting moment is the great swindler of life. He masquerades as the real, when he is the greatest, cleverest fake.
I was also charmed by the "fleeting moment." I tried to chase him and lost. Yet this awakening from wasted pursuit caused me to find, in my very hands, the light of life that had I been searching for. All along, I already had the real moment. Christ is the moment. In Christ, the moment is ours to have and to give.
"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."- John 10:10
"Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”- John 8:12
Dear memories may be visited, but never again experienced and enjoyed. They may be brought up again by a face from the past, and still the nostalgia cannot be repeated. New life must come and new moments to be had. There are the good moments of family, God, and restoration... But there is the bad moment I wish to process before you; I call him the "fleeting moment:"
The fleeting moment is the great taunter of life; he promises worldly satisfaction, arrival, pleasure, happiness, and a certain spark of life that somehow everyone is dying to have. The fleeing moment is a great boaster and so hypnotically attractive, that the whole world lusts to have him. He has become the goal of the lives of many. How can he possibly be attained? The conditions are lavish - an all-encompassing pursuit - because, he will always be just one more step ahead, beyond one more thing to buy, one more experience to have, and then beyond just still one more... then only one more, everyone is sure of it. But like a sour sting, again the moment is running just a little too far ahead, like a little wisp of faint light evading all grasp. Lives are completely exhausted and consumed to catch this fleeting moment that never happens and never satisfies. The life lived for the pursuit of pleasure drives all to their deaths... The fleeting moment is the great swindler of life. He masquerades as the real, when he is the greatest, cleverest fake.
I was also charmed by the "fleeting moment." I tried to chase him and lost. Yet this awakening from wasted pursuit caused me to find, in my very hands, the light of life that had I been searching for. All along, I already had the real moment. Christ is the moment. In Christ, the moment is ours to have and to give.
"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."- John 10:10
"Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”- John 8:12
Life Like a Wave
One of the greatest oppositions to the power of Christ at work in our lives
is... the fleshly effort. The magnanimous, well-meaning, fleshly effort. How
often this misinterpreted, best friend of ours, manages to find its self-righteous
way getting in God's way.
I have found, as I am sure many others have, that we can run quite an “impressive” distance on our own steam. What great feats we can do in such short, burn out stages. If we are lucky, or I should say highly blessed, God will let us burn out sooner rather than later, and let us come to the place of exhausting all natural resources. There, we may be enlightened to realize the vital need for eternal resources to be at work in fueling our lives. It is a good place to run out of our own, fleshly fuel. Grade F may finally be exhausted so that grade A can fill up the tank. It is always a good moment of great hope to come to the end of one's self. It is there that the power of God may take over and do for us what we cannot do for ourselves- often, immeasurably more than we thought possible.
God's life in us might be like surfing a wave. It takes focus and abiding, but it is naturally momentous, a catching of power from a source outside ourselves. I am not advocating a passive faith (good surfers still need to have skills). But, there is something to be said of the supernaturally natural life of God in us- not of earning and striving for Heavenly gifts, but of abiding in Christ and walking by faith in His promises. The picture of a wave has helped me to digest how a life of daily dependence upon the mighty wave of God might be like. The power of momentum is from an outside source so largely greater than human strength. Sometimes the waves He allows might seem like rogue waves to survive, and yet the Holy Spirit can cause us to glide upon even those.
I have found, as I am sure many others have, that we can run quite an “impressive” distance on our own steam. What great feats we can do in such short, burn out stages. If we are lucky, or I should say highly blessed, God will let us burn out sooner rather than later, and let us come to the place of exhausting all natural resources. There, we may be enlightened to realize the vital need for eternal resources to be at work in fueling our lives. It is a good place to run out of our own, fleshly fuel. Grade F may finally be exhausted so that grade A can fill up the tank. It is always a good moment of great hope to come to the end of one's self. It is there that the power of God may take over and do for us what we cannot do for ourselves- often, immeasurably more than we thought possible.
God's life in us might be like surfing a wave. It takes focus and abiding, but it is naturally momentous, a catching of power from a source outside ourselves. I am not advocating a passive faith (good surfers still need to have skills). But, there is something to be said of the supernaturally natural life of God in us- not of earning and striving for Heavenly gifts, but of abiding in Christ and walking by faith in His promises. The picture of a wave has helped me to digest how a life of daily dependence upon the mighty wave of God might be like. The power of momentum is from an outside source so largely greater than human strength. Sometimes the waves He allows might seem like rogue waves to survive, and yet the Holy Spirit can cause us to glide upon even those.
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