Appreciating Blindness

Finding God's will is humbling and requires faith. Is it shameful to spend a season waiting on the Lord? Is that waiting season ever in vain?

There is an elderly woman I have heard of but never met. "Ellie" rises each morning and waits on her front porch for the arrival of her friend, another elderly woman. Together they sit while her friend reads aloud from the Holy Writ. At the end of the Bible passage, hands are extended and eyes are closed in prayer, as the ladies commit the day to doing the Lord's will. Ellie is blind.

Yesterday, a friend mentioned how she wishes to have a calling in her life, but she's still clueless what God wants. What can a girl do, except cast her talents out like bait? It's not much; in fact, it's a pretty helpless and pathetic state in which to exist. Waiting, waiting, fishing for a future; waiting for bait to be bitten and God to reveal His will through opening a door. My friend is blind too; not in the same physical sense as Ellie, but she feels like she's groping around in the dark.

Both Ellie and my friend are in an unglamorous situation. Neither is self-sufficient. God must be sought continually for another ration of rest and sustenance. Would anyone envy them?

A state of being like Laodicea's is generally thought more agreeable. A shining symbol of self-confidence, Laodicea was a church that could stand on its own two feet. God called the church to task for its stubborn independence: "For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked." (Rev. 3:17) How the rebuke must have smarted--and that from the Maker of the universe.

I think I share a lot in common with that place. Freethinking, I can whip up future plans like no other. (Some would re-term "freethinking" in this context as "folly.") Unlike Ellie and my friend, I have my life figured out. My future plans are in the bag. Determining for sure that those plans are truly for my best and the best for God's Kingdom is another matter entirely. I don't have that kind of discernment.

Obviously, there is something lacking in a Laodicea mentality. The key is not that God wants a to live without purpose. Without a clear plan, getting lost is easier than you think. My family proved this point a few years ago, as we circled Memphis for the fourth time, exiting toward the ramp we thought led to Texas, finding ourselves in Mississippi and wishing we'd never stepped foot in Tennessee in the first place. Phew. If that happened in the space of only a few hours, how much worse could happen traveling through life with no planned route or destination? It's a scary thought. Having some kind of plan is smart. Although a detailed daytimer to guide us to our 70th birthday is probably unnecessary, an idea of the skills God wants us to develop is helpful.

Yet before the life planning happens, is it wrong to have a season of deciding, where we try to discover God's will? Is it shameful to be compelled to wait in perfect simplicity--in blind trust--for God? It feels shameful. It's humiliating (and humbling.) Worse yet, it's frightening. I don't envy Ellie's blindness or my friend's. Their respective situations require faith. But I am confident, as they are, that waiting on the Lord is never in vain.
While Laodicea experienced true spiritual blindness due to pride, Ellie and my friend simply appear blind. In reality, their eyes are being opened to a deeper level of trust in Christ. They are resting in the fact that the Giver of Sight will one day show them a wider view. That doesn't sound like blindness to me.

Corrie ten Boom wrote, "Never fear to trust an unknown future to a known God." What is more, Christ said, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden." (Matthew 5:14) Although these two people may feel purposeless and their waiting may seem futile, they may yet achieve a higher purpose: glorifying God by becoming radiant beacons of selfless trust. That's not so bad, is it?

Take a Moment...

Two posts at The Blazing Center bring the focus of Christmas back on Christ's sacrifice:
Would You Kill Your Son? / Christmas, A Celebration of Humiliation

Winter Without Christmas

I'm freezing cold. A flannel blanket is wrapped about my feet and a fire is crackling in front of me, but it doesn't seem to be enough. Jack Frost has caught up with me, and I can't wait until spring. It's like this every year, or at least as far back as I can remember. Christmas is wonderful. Winter, I can barely stand.

Remember what C.S. Lewis wrote about living under the reign of the White Witch? It's "always winter and never Christmas." How did those Narnians survive? Imagine no hope for a spring; no warm sun to shake icicles off the bones. It sounds like death to me.

In my daily Bible readings, I've been looking into Jeremiah's world. He's a hated prophet-- hated because he is a prophet, and doesn't marinade the truth in honey before serving it. He's blessed to be God's confidante, but it feels like a curse to him. He knows the bloody fate of Jerusalem and he can hardly bear it. It is a heavy knowledge to hold, the future. Jeremiah's mind must have oftened drifted back to the more uplifting hope God offered: The Righteous Branch.

"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: 'The LORD is our righteousness.'"

(Jeremiah 23:5-6)

If the future was heavy for Jeremiah, I wonder what God was thinking at the time, knowing so much more. Jerusalem wouldn't always be covered in a blanket of ice and frozen hearts. Eventually the sun would come out again...but not before His own Son's face was smeared with blood. To call it a "Rescue," would be insufficient. A "ransom?" "Sacrifice?" It was the gift of God's Self to a fallen race. What words could describe it?

This is Christmas. The dawn of life and the beginning of the end of death. Jeremiah's anguish cannot be compared to the hope that was embedded in his words. How does Winter stand a chance of conquering with that kind of day in its midst?

Feelings

Lindsey's post caused this quote to hit home.

(Regarding silly girls:) "They had a feeling, or a feeling had them, till another feeling came and took its place. When a feeling was there, they felt as if it would never go; when it was gone they felt as if it had never been; when it returned, they felt as if it had never gone."
-George MacDonald

I wonder how, in between those shifting feelings, we ever could find the brass to be arrogant or doubt whether God's wisdom is truly greater after all.

Don't Follow Your Heart

Imagine that I've taken you to a quaint coffee shop for a treat. I've just handed you a steaming mocha latte. Your favorite. Smiling your thanks, you sit down, and take a small sip. Suddenly, a strange, steely glint enters my eyes. "The coffee has been poisoned. You have less than twenty-four hours to live," I say in a low voice.

Another sip. I crease my brow in confusion. I expected fear and panic to grip you, and sobs to shake your body. Instead, you lazily stir the latte with a straw and comment on its flavor. But stop— Why? Why didn't you run out of the coffee shop, wailing in distress? What triggered your careless reaction?

It's obvious, of course. You didn't believe me.

Girls are emotional. There's just no getting around it. You probably know what I'm talking about; happy on one day, and feeling like the world is crashing around you the next. Smiling in the morning, and then crying—sometimes for no discernible reason— only a few hours later. I speak from personal experience. It happens. And apparently, changing feelings are the norm in other areas, too. Turn on the radio, and you'll be instantly barraged by a host of songs about it. We're told that we can simply "fall in", and then "fall out" of love, as if we have no control over our feelings. Oh, honey, I'm so in love with you... I'm just crazy about you... oops, now I'm not. I'm sorry, dear. Goodbye. The world tells us to rely on our feelings, and follow our hearts. And romance is only one of the many spheres that are effected; the principle of depending on our emotions for guidance clearly extends much farther.

Beliefs influence thoughts, and thoughts influence feelings. One way or another, all our emotions, both positive and negative, overflow from what we're inwardly convinced of. Think about it. If you believed that I had poisoned the latte, you would have had an entirely different response.

So, what am I getting at? Don't ever go to a coffee shop with a Beauty from the Heart contributor if you value your life? No, not really. My point is actually serious, and I don't want you to miss it.

As Christians, we often allow our emotions to wreak havoc with us. We don't always feel like God loves us. We don't always feel zealous for the gospel. We don't always feel overwhelmed with joy. We don't always feel forgiven. We deeply desire to feel these things, but sometimes... well, the feelings just aren't there.

The core issue here is still belief.

Take a look at Job. On a day during the height of his enjoyment of God's blessings—without any warning—two things happen that change his life forever. A breathless servant arrives, carrying a message: Job's wealth has been obliterated. Before he has even a second to absorb this, another messenger arrives, with even worse news. Job's children have met sudden, violent deaths. And what does he do? Not what most people would expect. Job stuns me. He falls to the ground, and there, face down... he worships. He worships! In the midst of Job's greatest crisis, the exclamation, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised" springs spontaneously from his lips. It blows my mind. Job's reaction doesn't make rational sense. In fact, it defies cause and effect. How could his first, knee-jerk reaction be to praise God? Acceptance is one thing, but adoration?

There's only one explanation. Job's emotional response came from a firm, unshakable conviction. It was his belief in the goodness of his God that compelled him to humble worship. Job's relationship with God wasn't based off of circumstances, or the feelings produced by those circumstances. The reason he didn't "curse God and die", as his wife advised, was because his relationship with God rested on one solid, reliable foundation. Truth.

Fred Webedou used to tell a story about a terrifying experience he had as a fighter pilot in the Vietnam war. At times, a thick blanket of white fog would surround the entire plane. Nothing else was visible, either above or below. After some time, a panicked feeling of disorientation would begin to creep in. This sensation would grow in intensity, and become overpowering to the point where it felt like the plane was flying upside down. Instead of trusting the instruments, many pilots allowed their senses to dictate their course of action. In desperate attempts to "right the plane", they blindly maneuvered headlong into the ground. The pilots were warned not to heed their instinctual feelings, but to devote their whole attention to the instruments instead. Fred testified that this took a tremendous amount of willpower, but it saved his life.

If we allow ourselves to be directed by our feelings, we will quickly find ourselves obscured in fog, upside down, and headed for disaster. Our relationship with God will prove to be a painfully shallow and inadequate, and when difficult circumstances ensue, whatever semblance of a relationship is left will invariably buckle. We need a stronger foundation— a foundation informed by the truth and supported by belief, not sustained by emotions. Only this kind of relationship will enable us to produce God-glorifying feelings in any circumstance.

Christ wants to have full reign over of us, and that includes our emotions. He wants us to trust Him, and not fear. To be filled with peace, not anger. To brim with joy in His love, not sink under the weight of anxiety. Whether we encounter challenging or pleasant situations, He desires our feelings to be guided by Him. And the only way that this can happen is if we deliberately choose to immerse ourselves in the Word of God, confidently placing our trust in the beautiful truths He reveals there. Our emotions simply are not trustworthy enough gauges to lead us. We must first get a grip on the solid, unchangeable Truth, and believe it. Then, when our fluctuating emotions start to wreak havoc with us, we can put them in their place— in submission to the Lord of our hearts.

We're alive!

Dear Readers,

We haven't forgotten about you! We're working on some new posts right now, and we hope to finish them soon. Thanks for your patience!