~The Emporer’s Old Clothes—Part C~
So there I stood: rebelliously freed from my old garment with no replacement garments in sight.
My dear reader, hopefully you are seeking the Lord faithfully enough that He has confronted you with the Truth about some area of your life. If so, I’m sure you can relate to my dilemma in that moment of Truth: realization brought the strong temptation to panic. Instead of waiting quietly before the One who obviously had everything under control, the One who had revealed this lie to me in the first place—instead of asking, “Lord, now that you’ve shown me the Truth, what should I do about this garment? How do you want to fix my problem?”—instead of keeping my eyes and mind focused upon Him, I gave in to the frantic wish to be free of my robe immediately. I had not waited for the Lord, had not sought His solution.
Because of my own haste, I was naked. Completely exposed.
The Lord’s second “knot jerking” session—a far more extensive operation than bringing me to salvation—was under way.
I did not possess the capability of creating my own ideal. I had no concept of how to look like, act like, or dress like “Me.” I discovered that I did not know how to have an opinion; in fact, I did not really know how to think for myself. But I had long believed that I should not ask for help—I would only be a burden, an annoyance. So I could not reason or develop my own thoughts…but would not make any requests of classmates or professors to teach me how. Clearly, this was a recipe for disaster. And because of my own panic, I was still emotionally naked: I had no identity.
So, did I cry out to the Lord, admitting my inability to handle the situation? No. As I mentioned before, I had long believed that I should not burden another with my problems or apparent failure to measure up. Jesus, my Savior and Lord, was not exempt from my prideful fear of being a bother. How arrogant and blind can my human heart possibly be?
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7 comments:
I very much do like your new post. Do you think with sin sometimes God may say, "We'll work on it slowly"? Kinda like He's not overly freaked out about realizing that there are areas of the person's life He's working on and that as He works on and in those areas we will be freed eventually?
Yes, my friend. That is exactly what God does. Remember, this is the wonderful Lord who "fashioned my inmost being,...knit me together in my mother's womb" and yet before whom "all my days were already written; my days had been shaped before any of them existed" (Ps. 139:13-16). No sin or flaw found in us comes as a surprise to our Creator and Savior.
There may be an area of someone's life in which the Lord will ask for total surrender--purification in one fell swoop. In that case, the Lord will supply the strength necessary for such a surrender. Yet we serve a God of infinite patience: He is gentle with us. In most cases He frees us from our sin a little at a time. Just as He has always done, Adonai teaches us "precept by precept, precept by precept, line by line, line by line, a little here, a little there" (Isa. 28:10). Just keep pressing in; keep trusting in His hands. This is the God who has "hemmed [you] in both behind and in front and laid [His] hand on [you]" (Ps. 139:5). He'll take care of removing all that binds and hinders. ^_^
Ezekiel 37
"And from that ay on the name of the city will be Adonai Shamah [Adonai is there]." Exekiel 48:35b
"whoever approaches [God] must trust that He does exist and that He becomes a rewarder to those who seek Him out." Hebrews 11:6b
"By trusting, [Abraham] lived as a temporary resident in the Land of Promise, as if it were not his...For he was looking forward to the city with permanent foundations, of which the architect and builder is God." Hebrews 11:9-10
"...they aspire to a better fatherland, a heavenly one. This is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city." Hebrews 11:16
I've added a little to this section. It's still not finished, but thoughts are always welcome. It was interesting: I spent some time writing last night...and then spent a couple of hours with my father this morning. I'm grateful that the Lord caused events to transpire in that order.
The two hours I spent with my father were...cordial. (And that is much better than it could have been.) At the same time, it's rather sad that "cordial" is the most I can hope for from these rare times with my father. It's painful to see what he's doing to himself physically, mentally, and spiritually. He's so bitter and prideful. I just have to keep trusting that the One who loves me best--my Perfect Father--loves this man far more than I ever could. God has everything well in hand. ^_^
Yeah... I'm glad it went okay then.
^_^ Thanks, Imoutochan.
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