I am going through a season of training, right now. It's not been pleasant and it's predominantly my fault. Thank God that He is merciful and promises to fix the mistakes I have made and extract us from the miry clay we have gotten ourselves into. I have learned many valuable lessons on this journey, the most significant of which has been when the Spirit prompted me to view a message series I had noticed on YouTube by Kenneth Hagin about casting your cares. This was revolutionary and led to further messages from another respected teacher, Keith Moore. What a life we can live when we embrace the words of the Master and choose to live worry-free!
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Faith of the Fallen
Well, it has been a Long time since I have even thought of this blog let alone remembered passwords and made a post. Life has happened along the way, of course, some of it wonderful - seeing our baby boy, Josiah, grow up into a wonderful 8 year old, birthing our second child, a glorious little girl, Nevaeh, who is now 6, and getting to meet our third surprise blessing, Norah, and spending 11 faith- and praise-filled days with her before she was allowed to graduate into Eternity before the rest of us. Much more of what has happened has not been good, honestly, and parts of that journey into and now out of darkness, will likely be shared in times to come, when it is appropriate. I do not delude myself into thinking I have or deserve a readership of any kind. I am well aware that I really talking to myself, and I'm okay with that. ;) The purpose of this blog is simply to create a digital archive that is not so hidden on my phone that it cannot be found by those the Spirit directs nor so public as those who digitally vomit all over their Facebook statuses where hundreds of acquaintances who are basically strangers to them now can be annoyed by their lack of discretion. Posts will be unashamedly Christian (the "radical", born-again kind lots of folks find peculiar) and unequivocally my own opinions.
My husband, Darren, and I love epic high fantasy. We have read the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and are now (occasionally) moving our way through Terry Goodkind's The Sword of Truth. The wallpaper on my phone, before Norah, was of the cover art for the sixth book in that series, titled "Faith of the Fallen". The story of the marble statue and what it says about the strength, dignity, and power of the human will in a world filled with pain and toil and trouble spoke powerfully to me. It is in that same Spirit that I choose to blog again.
My husband, Darren, and I love epic high fantasy. We have read the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and are now (occasionally) moving our way through Terry Goodkind's The Sword of Truth. The wallpaper on my phone, before Norah, was of the cover art for the sixth book in that series, titled "Faith of the Fallen". The story of the marble statue and what it says about the strength, dignity, and power of the human will in a world filled with pain and toil and trouble spoke powerfully to me. It is in that same Spirit that I choose to blog again.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Treasures of Darkness
Recently, I was part of conversation in which some young man were asking about the passage in Isaiah 43 that says that the treasures of darkness belong to the Lord. Their pastor assured them that it was not the darkness referring to a life of sin in the world. I wanted to further study this and looked up the word "darkness" in the Strong's from this verse. It literally means: 1. darkness, obscurity
2. darkness
3. secret place
Reading this I began to meditate on several things. We often refer to the secret place of Psalm 91 and seek to dwell there that we may walk in the victorious blessings listed in that psalm. A secret place is hidden, in order to be a secret there is an inference of darkness or secrecy, even in a cave or deep in the earth where precious treasures lie for the miner. It further says in the Word that it is the glory of God to conceal a matter but the honour of kings to seek it out.
There is the understanding from the description of the tabernacle of Moses that in the Holy of Holies there was no natural light - the candle stick was in the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies was at the back of the tabernacle with a thick curtain separating from the rest of the tabernacle with no description of windows to speak of and, i'm assuming, a closed ceiling so no light from sun or moon or stars would penetrate.
But it was really the definition of "obscurity" that stuck with me. Many of us who have heard the testimonies or studied those of great men and women used by God discover that there is a season in their lives, usually quite a long one, where they are hitherto unknown, set aside, even looked down upon or forgotten. Yet the Lord knows they are his treasures despite the lack of human acclaim. Think of Elijah, who, after destroying 450 prophets of Baal runs scared at one word from Jezebel. God finds him hiding and asks what he's doing. He replies with despair about how evil the current government is and how they have killed all the Lord's prophets and alas, he is the only one left and now they plan to kill him. What does God say? Does He say, "good point, keep hiding and I'll send a random animal or an angel to feed you"? No. He says that the great prophet does not everything and that the Lord has set aside several THOUSAND people who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Where were these people? Only God knows. They were certainly not doing exploits large enough to attract the attention of Jezebal and Ahab, not sent to the government at least. They were not grand enough to make it into the Bible except by this brief mention; no one but the Lord even knows their names. truly, they were in darkness - in obscurity. And they were treasures to the Lord, a little secret that He kept close to His heart and did not share with even His busiest prophet until it was absolutely necessary.
There are many more accounts like this - who was the Shunamite woman who fed Elijah? We don't get to know her name. What of Paul spending years in the wilderness after his conversion? He says that Jesus Himself taught him in those times. And Joseph, lost and forgotten in the dungeons of Egypt. Jonah, dead in rebellion within the belly of the great fish but ressurected three days later. Jesus, himself, before age 30.
sometimes when we feel like we are set aside on a shelf, we would do well to remember that to the Lord, we are His treasures in darkness.
2. darkness
3. secret place
Reading this I began to meditate on several things. We often refer to the secret place of Psalm 91 and seek to dwell there that we may walk in the victorious blessings listed in that psalm. A secret place is hidden, in order to be a secret there is an inference of darkness or secrecy, even in a cave or deep in the earth where precious treasures lie for the miner. It further says in the Word that it is the glory of God to conceal a matter but the honour of kings to seek it out.
There is the understanding from the description of the tabernacle of Moses that in the Holy of Holies there was no natural light - the candle stick was in the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies was at the back of the tabernacle with a thick curtain separating from the rest of the tabernacle with no description of windows to speak of and, i'm assuming, a closed ceiling so no light from sun or moon or stars would penetrate.
But it was really the definition of "obscurity" that stuck with me. Many of us who have heard the testimonies or studied those of great men and women used by God discover that there is a season in their lives, usually quite a long one, where they are hitherto unknown, set aside, even looked down upon or forgotten. Yet the Lord knows they are his treasures despite the lack of human acclaim. Think of Elijah, who, after destroying 450 prophets of Baal runs scared at one word from Jezebel. God finds him hiding and asks what he's doing. He replies with despair about how evil the current government is and how they have killed all the Lord's prophets and alas, he is the only one left and now they plan to kill him. What does God say? Does He say, "good point, keep hiding and I'll send a random animal or an angel to feed you"? No. He says that the great prophet does not everything and that the Lord has set aside several THOUSAND people who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Where were these people? Only God knows. They were certainly not doing exploits large enough to attract the attention of Jezebal and Ahab, not sent to the government at least. They were not grand enough to make it into the Bible except by this brief mention; no one but the Lord even knows their names. truly, they were in darkness - in obscurity. And they were treasures to the Lord, a little secret that He kept close to His heart and did not share with even His busiest prophet until it was absolutely necessary.
There are many more accounts like this - who was the Shunamite woman who fed Elijah? We don't get to know her name. What of Paul spending years in the wilderness after his conversion? He says that Jesus Himself taught him in those times. And Joseph, lost and forgotten in the dungeons of Egypt. Jonah, dead in rebellion within the belly of the great fish but ressurected three days later. Jesus, himself, before age 30.
sometimes when we feel like we are set aside on a shelf, we would do well to remember that to the Lord, we are His treasures in darkness.
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