Gradyman
11-15-2007, 09:36 PM
I felt like this was a worthwhile moment to share with you all.
I was sitting in our church service last Sunday and while the pastor was speaking I began to get a “word picture”, a sort of vision about trusting God. I’m a photographer so thinking in pictures (visions) comes easy to me…guess that’s why I am a photographer!
The picture I got was of a person hanging on to a rope in a dark place…the proverbial “end of the rope” where one just “ties a not & hangs on” because everything they could think of to do has been exhausted.
At this point some will hope & pray that God comes through to help them with the climb back up & out. There are many other “things” that are done at the “end of the rope” depending on who you are and the thoughts you allow to become action. For the believer hoping and praying and believing God for direction should be our first thoughts; but we’ve been given a brain, strength, and a will to fix, rescue and sustain ourselves…so we make plans as we “tie a knot & hang on”…all the while believing God to help us climb up & out of the situation we’re in. We pray for deliverance & spend little time listening...in the meantime we devise a plan and carry it out only to find ourselves exhausted & still hanging there. Soon we begin to wonder if God forgot about us, if He’s even heard our prayers, if we’ve fell out of His love. The list of things that make us ask “God where are you, can’t you see me hanging here??” goes on & on! We start to feel hopeless, bewildered, even condemned. We begin to view the situation as bigger then God or too far out of His reach or even that He doesn’t care about us. Then we get to the point of anger & doubt over the situation and even get angry with Him. We begin to get angry that we’re in this pit hanging on for dear life, trying our hardest to climb out and He is no where around…we begin to get offended at God & His seeming lack of concern.
At this point, in our thoughts and attitudes we feel very much like John the Baptist when he found himself between the prison bars and the silver platter…he sent his men to ask Jesus “are you the Messiah or should we look for another?” (Matt 11:2-6) This doubt is coming from a guy who declared who Jesus was when He was baptized by him and was the forerunner for Jesus AND whom Jesus said that there are none greater in the kingdom of heaven!!! So, no matter who you are in Him and how mighty your works in Him and how close you are to Him…we are all humane and can go through these “end of your rope” situations. At this point Jesus response to John is somewhat encouraging & yet ends with the statement “Blessed is he who isn’t offended because of me.”
I realized on Sunday that even though it’s normal to feel all these things about God in our situation what must be done in order to have peace and get through it is to trust God. Sounds simple, but trusting Him requires a total abandonment to Him. At the end of the rope we must lean not on our own understanding, because sometimes things just don’t make any sense, we must lean on the wisdom of God, stop trying to climb out and be still to hear what He is saying. The scripture for this goes like this: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart & lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6) While hanging on the end of the rope we must not get all tied up in how we got there playing the blame game, not get exhausted trying to climb out, not get offended at God because he hasn’t delivered us the way WE were sure it needed to be done.
In the word picture I had I felt as if the Lord was telling the person to let go of the rope!!?? You could see they were not too keen on falling because it wasn’t, at least in their mind, the way out. They couldn’t see the bottom of the situation & the fear of the unknown was overwhelming. With no power left to hang & no other way out they let go, not so much because they trusted Him, but because they finally realized where they were…at the end of their rope. As they begun the fall they were overwhelmed with a sense of fear. As they accelerated the fear began to get very real and at the point of becoming paralyzed thoughts came through piercing the darkness and the fear began to subside. They began to realize that God didn’t give them a spirit of fear, but of Love, Power & a Sound Mind. As the realization of this “gift” became more & more real the fall actually began to feel OK, even though they still didn’t know any more about what was going to happen next. It felt OK because they didn’t have to hang on any longer & they could just relax. Their well being was no longer their responsibility, for there was nothing they could do at this moment to help themselves anyway. It was then that trusting God became a living breathing power that was starting to consume them from the inside. On the outside they could still feel the rushing acceleration of the fall, but they were at peace with it…even without understanding it all. As the fall continued they began to feel a sense of joy at times that one would feel as they jumped from a plane with a well packed parachute. It was as though the realization of Gods presence and His overwhelming love made them begin to actually “enjoy” the fall. As this realization grew so did their confidence in Him to see them through, it was at this moment that the fall began to slow and the darkness began to fade…the light of His presence with them began to show all around and they could now understand the reason the fall had begun to slow is because His hands were gently guiding them down. As they came to a stop they could feel that He had been there all along and could see the smile on His face as He watch the relief and peace from His love flood their soul. They had begun to trust Him and this was the lesson they needed to learn. He had not forgotten them; He wasn’t too busy for them, His love had never left and had now become very real to them. He had known, at this time in their life, they had needed to climb higher in their knowledge of Him and His love for them. They still didn’t have all the answers, but it didn’t matter now…they trusted Him and His love for them and knew it was all going to work out for good. They had begun to see things from His perspective, an eternal perspective and it was all going to be OK.
“Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me”
I was sitting in our church service last Sunday and while the pastor was speaking I began to get a “word picture”, a sort of vision about trusting God. I’m a photographer so thinking in pictures (visions) comes easy to me…guess that’s why I am a photographer!
The picture I got was of a person hanging on to a rope in a dark place…the proverbial “end of the rope” where one just “ties a not & hangs on” because everything they could think of to do has been exhausted.
At this point some will hope & pray that God comes through to help them with the climb back up & out. There are many other “things” that are done at the “end of the rope” depending on who you are and the thoughts you allow to become action. For the believer hoping and praying and believing God for direction should be our first thoughts; but we’ve been given a brain, strength, and a will to fix, rescue and sustain ourselves…so we make plans as we “tie a knot & hang on”…all the while believing God to help us climb up & out of the situation we’re in. We pray for deliverance & spend little time listening...in the meantime we devise a plan and carry it out only to find ourselves exhausted & still hanging there. Soon we begin to wonder if God forgot about us, if He’s even heard our prayers, if we’ve fell out of His love. The list of things that make us ask “God where are you, can’t you see me hanging here??” goes on & on! We start to feel hopeless, bewildered, even condemned. We begin to view the situation as bigger then God or too far out of His reach or even that He doesn’t care about us. Then we get to the point of anger & doubt over the situation and even get angry with Him. We begin to get angry that we’re in this pit hanging on for dear life, trying our hardest to climb out and He is no where around…we begin to get offended at God & His seeming lack of concern.
At this point, in our thoughts and attitudes we feel very much like John the Baptist when he found himself between the prison bars and the silver platter…he sent his men to ask Jesus “are you the Messiah or should we look for another?” (Matt 11:2-6) This doubt is coming from a guy who declared who Jesus was when He was baptized by him and was the forerunner for Jesus AND whom Jesus said that there are none greater in the kingdom of heaven!!! So, no matter who you are in Him and how mighty your works in Him and how close you are to Him…we are all humane and can go through these “end of your rope” situations. At this point Jesus response to John is somewhat encouraging & yet ends with the statement “Blessed is he who isn’t offended because of me.”
I realized on Sunday that even though it’s normal to feel all these things about God in our situation what must be done in order to have peace and get through it is to trust God. Sounds simple, but trusting Him requires a total abandonment to Him. At the end of the rope we must lean not on our own understanding, because sometimes things just don’t make any sense, we must lean on the wisdom of God, stop trying to climb out and be still to hear what He is saying. The scripture for this goes like this: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart & lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6) While hanging on the end of the rope we must not get all tied up in how we got there playing the blame game, not get exhausted trying to climb out, not get offended at God because he hasn’t delivered us the way WE were sure it needed to be done.
In the word picture I had I felt as if the Lord was telling the person to let go of the rope!!?? You could see they were not too keen on falling because it wasn’t, at least in their mind, the way out. They couldn’t see the bottom of the situation & the fear of the unknown was overwhelming. With no power left to hang & no other way out they let go, not so much because they trusted Him, but because they finally realized where they were…at the end of their rope. As they begun the fall they were overwhelmed with a sense of fear. As they accelerated the fear began to get very real and at the point of becoming paralyzed thoughts came through piercing the darkness and the fear began to subside. They began to realize that God didn’t give them a spirit of fear, but of Love, Power & a Sound Mind. As the realization of this “gift” became more & more real the fall actually began to feel OK, even though they still didn’t know any more about what was going to happen next. It felt OK because they didn’t have to hang on any longer & they could just relax. Their well being was no longer their responsibility, for there was nothing they could do at this moment to help themselves anyway. It was then that trusting God became a living breathing power that was starting to consume them from the inside. On the outside they could still feel the rushing acceleration of the fall, but they were at peace with it…even without understanding it all. As the fall continued they began to feel a sense of joy at times that one would feel as they jumped from a plane with a well packed parachute. It was as though the realization of Gods presence and His overwhelming love made them begin to actually “enjoy” the fall. As this realization grew so did their confidence in Him to see them through, it was at this moment that the fall began to slow and the darkness began to fade…the light of His presence with them began to show all around and they could now understand the reason the fall had begun to slow is because His hands were gently guiding them down. As they came to a stop they could feel that He had been there all along and could see the smile on His face as He watch the relief and peace from His love flood their soul. They had begun to trust Him and this was the lesson they needed to learn. He had not forgotten them; He wasn’t too busy for them, His love had never left and had now become very real to them. He had known, at this time in their life, they had needed to climb higher in their knowledge of Him and His love for them. They still didn’t have all the answers, but it didn’t matter now…they trusted Him and His love for them and knew it was all going to work out for good. They had begun to see things from His perspective, an eternal perspective and it was all going to be OK.
“Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me”