In my striving to be conscious of God and to hear His voice and walk with Him, I slowly learned that I do not get the Lord to speak simply by striving to listen. Nor is He always speaking and I hear or get to hear bits and pieces only as I succeed in efforts to “tune in” like a ham operator trying to pick up a frequency. No, the Lord speaks when it pleases Him, and when He speaks, He is fully capable of making Himself heard with or without any help or hindrance from us.
Until we are humbled and repent of our arrogance, we will neither understand nor rest.
Standing atop a mountain peak,
I could not hear a sound.
In vain I strained my ears to hear
But nothing came except a tear
Because I could not hear.
Cold it grew and I withdrew
To lower levels not by choice,
And there I felt more comforted
But silence remained the only voice
And still I could not hear.
“Am I dead?” in pain I asked myself,
“Is there something wrong with me?
I should think that on these wondrous heights
Is where hearing and seeing ought to be.”
And down I came again.
Lower and lower and lower still,
Not even ground level was to be my fill,
But lower and lower and lower ’til
The darkness smothered me out of sight
And my only friends were sorrow and fright.
But I was not alone.
For in the nether of darkness and tether,
Down where I had made my bed,
And where I resigned to live and sleep,
I heard the Voice instead:
“Come up!” It said, “and into the Light.
Rejoice now with new hearing and sight.
I’ll take away your tether and fright
And you’ll be My servant instead.”
Albuquerque, Spring, 1984
Related posts:
Living with loose ends that seem perpetual is one of the difficult facts of life, especially if those ends were not expected to be loose and most of all if those loose ends had at first appeared to have the promise of completion upon which we set our hopes. As we press on toward the mark we gradually begin to learn that those things we counted important, achievable and our destiny were really only elements of a process. With the process complete in any of its stages, we discover firstly a change in ourselves and then the elements we once considered so important are cancelled with our ready consent. The destination is not without but within. When once the work is done within, those outward things we sought fade away, no longer perceived as desirable or important. How many times have I thought I arrived only to discover I was just beginning! That which was is no longer relevant, as a fading flower that falls to the ground. One must come to the sobering truth that all we do is vanity. The greatest works of men upon earth are entirely vain. What's more, as much can be accomplished and\or learned in the most mundane and simple things and activities of our existence as in what we perceive to be higher and more noble works. Who has the measure? The issue is not one of what we do or how well we do it but one of motive and attitude. There is the key of deliverance from Periphery. Periphery, Periphery, Your victims going round, Seeing, smelling, Even tou...
There was a day when I was filled with the excitement of knowing that God is our sufficiency in all things. My mind then turned to the city and what makes a city. I knew that firstly, His rule applies in all things of life and secondly, that the city was void in all areas of His rule and healing power. Furthermore, it was those who were in authority who were supposed to be teaching, directing, leading, delivering but instead were the ones responsible for the corruption and degeneration of the people. Only outside the city but not far away was the remedy, THE Remedy. Hey, you city dwellers! Do you see that yonder Light? He is the Standard of all standards; He lights the way so you can see…and not stumble. He is the Walkway to lead you in sure directions To take you where you need to go. He is the Grocery Store; He is your Bread and Butter and all good food, Without additives…or subtractives; You’ll find no nourishment elsewhere. Why are you so gaunt, city dweller? He is your Post Office; To Him messages must go And from Him they will come. Mail service is timely and free; Why don’t you pay your postage? He is the local Drug Store But for good and not for hurt. In Him are the leaves For the healing of the nations. See that Jewelry Store around the corner And there you’ll find precious stones To grace the chest of one who wears them. No costume jewelry here. The gold is real, the stones are genuine; He is not here...
While servants of the prince of darkness present themselves as angels of love and goodness, they grant their victims in part those things the flesh desires to have without cost of life. Souls are thus ensnared in their own selfishness. "I gave my child all it wanted. I spared nothing. What more could I have done?" laments the parent whose child is now on drugs or in prison or dead. How ironic that the sure path to destruction is receiving at request all that one could ask for! How ironic that our way to peace and fulfillment is in denial, hardship and deprivation until the final day! The epitome of selfishness: "I want," it declares; "I want it all," it demands; "I want it all now," it screams. It loves to be pampered and cuddled. It has no notion of cost to another, No care for one's needs or desires Other than its own. When not obliged, Its world stands still, Its heart bound in the thing it wants. A thousand things a day it wants. "My way!" it cries, Not for reason's sake nor truth, Not for right nor even good, But for self, and when denied, It pouts; Sullen and resentful, It eats itself And those around Unless it gets its way. The child of evil is ruled By its passions And its whims, By its ignorance And its needs so perceived. At every turn it cries Unless it gets its way; It clings to itself to live, Held in the grip of death. But deliverance comes As an enemy, In the form of a rod, The rod of chastening, of discipline, ...