Blessed and Happy Resurrection Day.
May it be filled with flowers and birdsong– and lots of love.
You know Mary Magdalene’s great surprise took place in a garden.
The Creator planned it that way.
It is history. It happened in real life.
It still does.
It is worthy of wonder.
In a Garden
It began in a garden, long, long ago
When the Creator gave Life and walked with His own
Now, here in a garden His holy Seed lies
Sown in the earth, for love, He has died.
This, His Seed, buried and hidden from eyes
Is about to break forth with Heaven’s surprise
In a garden, the Creator had always foreseen
In a garden, to walk again, with His redeemed
“Where are you?” God called for His own long ago
“Where is He?” Mary cried, for the Seed that was sown
In a garden, the Creator had always foreseen
In a garden, to walk again, with His redeemed
Deep in the heart of His Bride, He is known
For “she” knows Him by faith, and the love He has shown
In a garden, the Creator had always foreseen
In a garden, to walk again, with His redeemed
What began in a garden, long, long ago
Takes place, now in hearts all of His own
In a garden, the Creator had always foreseen
In a garden, to walk again, with His redeemed
“You’re home now,” God says at the end of her days
God came to us as a stranger. Nobody expected to see the Messiah come in the way He came. God fulfilled the prophecies about Himself but not in ways anyone could grasp. Really, not even those closest to Jesus understood who He really was, not until after the resurrection. Even then the realization came slowly.
God in a manger was a scandal. But, what glory it was in reality. If one could fully grasp the significance of the event, the wonder of it . . . well, of course, we cannot.
He hid Himself for our sakes.
And, today, in our personal lives and stories, it seems the same is true. Jesus can, anytime He decides, unveil His awesome power (that glorious Divinity), to prove His presence with us in similar ways He did during the days He wore sandals. He showed His glory through miracles and loving wonders and still does. We long for those times, don’t we?
He lived 30 years without any sign of being anything but an ordinary man. And, for about 3 years only did He unveil the beauty, the wonder, the mystery, of His presence.
I think He lets us miss Him, lets us yearn for answers, watches us grope in the dark for His will—all for good reason. I think it is so that He can surprise us. The favors come on His timetable, though, not ours. He sets us up in situations and circumstances that make us need Him. It is unavoidable, this dependence we have on Him. Yet, it this way, He is continually changing us and wooing us closer. Our faith grows. We begin to see Him more clearly, in places we hadn’t expected to find Him.
God became a crying baby in diapers, for Heaven’s sake. He was truly the Creator of the universe, don’t forget. This is in keeping with His character.
No doubt about it, Jesus enjoyed shocking His friends. He did it often. His first miracle was in the production of an extravagant amount of wine. Imagine the glee on Jesus’ face as he watched the wedding guests laugh and dance. He healed everyone He came across and showed generosity at every turn. His anger surprised folks, too. He turned to stone occasionally—because He couldn’t surprise the religious leaders with His generosity, with His desire to forgive and dazzle people. No, Jesus, wanted people to enjoy His presence, not shun His kindness. He wanted to steal hearts, after all—that’s why He came.
I think Jesus graces us with similar miracles today—ones He often never gets the credit for. I have personally experienced quite a few. Even so, I often feel like my prayers are not being heard because I don’t see immediate results. Or I feel confused and unable to make decisions, with what seems like no direction from above. But, if we ask for guidance and we hear crickets, does it mean God isn’t listening? No, I don’t believe that for a second. I have to remind myself, He answers at the perfect time and in the right way. He has always been this way. Above all, He wants us to know He is truly with us. He is present.
Have you ever noticed how sunflowers bend or turn to face the sun? It amazes me how much our hearts are so inclined to face the Son. We simply want Him and need Him.
A while ago I felt dull towards God and said a simple prayer about it. Just mention this to Him and you can be sure … it is a prayer He will quickly answer.
Once Jesus gave me an illustration of a fireplace with coals, a fire that looks to be nearly spent. He said all He need do is blow … a quick puff from His mouth and the fire flares up. He said His beloveds have hearts that might appear to have no fire left, until He gives a bit of a blow and everything is red hot again.
I suppose You might wonder — what form does this quick “blow” take; how is it He can so easily ignite us? Well, it could be anything. He’s quite creative about it. This time, for me, a friend called me to talk because the Lord had put me on her mind … while we talked He gave her a vision. It was of a sail boat, and He was showing her that He was about to fill its sails…
Me. I’m the sail boat. Little did she know that the Lord and I have used the sail boat imagery about my “writing life” and, in fact, I used to put a little motto on my email signatures that went like this: “We set the sails, God sends the wind.” I have been sensing God’s favor lately and it comes hand in hand with how close I really am to Him.
Well, my friend didn’t know that I’ve been working and praying about getting more serious with my writing … in fact I’ve been working on getting my website up and running. She didn’t now that I am thinking about publishing an eBook soon, or that I am sensing that it is time to get more serious about my writing life in general.
But what I want more than all of that is more of God. I want to be closer to Jesus, so close that my face is facing the Son every moment I’m awake.
I have desire for God again and it feels so wonderful. I think my next post is going to be a “going deeper” lesson in experiencing God. I might start blogging part of the eBook I’ve a mind to do.
So, if you would like to SEE Jesus in a new way, a personal and creative way, please come back soon. If you subscribe to my blog, you’ll know when I’ve posted it. Stay tuned ….
The name of my new devotional book is called COME AND SEE – (come and see Jesus).
It will be a contemplative, experiential journey through the Gospel stories of the life of Jesus.
Below is a beautiful video — Come and See the Glory of the Lord – just to kindle your heart to love Him a little more intentionally right now. He’s so, so wonderful and worth it! His love is so amazing .
One of my favorite authors is Brennan Manning. His books are filled with deep understanding of God’s love—and I don’t just read his books once—I return to them over and over again. He knows how to take the words of Scripture and make them apply to my life in ways that reach down deep inside me.
Something I read today in his small, but powerful book, The Rabbi’s Heartbeat, went hand in hand with a Scripture verse I also read today. Here are the two quotations:
John 10:10
“I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
When Jesus uttered these particular words, I can imagine the angels of heaven standing in awe as they listened—because they knew what it cost Him in order to personally say them:
Brennan writes:
“The sorrow of God lies in our fear of Him, our fear of life, and our fear of ourselves. As a father gathers his children into his arms at the end of a long and tiring day, so God longs to draw us into His embrace. No matter what your past or present, come; lean back in the shelter of His love and listen to the Rabbi’s heartbeat. Let Him teach you about life, death, and eternity as Abba’s beloved child. Take an unflinching look at yourself as you really are. Then look at who you are meant to become as you travel this earth as a child of God on the journey called life.”
This is a little conversation, as recorded in my prayer journal tonight, that I think illustrates these things.
The Lord: “What does it mean to live for Me? I am asking what it means to you. “
My reply: “It means that everything I do is for You—that I belong to You and want to please You—because I love You. And now that I am saying these words, I realize I don’t live for You in realty, do I?“
The Lord: “This is what it means to Me. If you want to live for Me, then do this: Be yourself fully and let Me love you. Then, when you begin to grasp what I love about you, and when you discover how much I love you, and when you can see that I would do anything for you, perhaps then you will know that you are living for Me so that I can enjoy you.”
“Lord, this is astounding. I can hardly take in what You just said. I need to think about the fact that You desire me to be more attentive to your Presence … to share my life with You as though we walk side by side. I am not mindful enough of You.”
“If you realized my Presence moment by moment, our relationship would be beyond what you can imagine. And, it is possible, it is so possible.”
After this, I read the next few pages of Brennan’s book, and amazing enough, it is an excerpt from his prayer journal:
“To feel safe is to stop living in my head and sink down into my heart and feel liked and accepted … not having to hide anymore and distract myself with books, television, movies, ice cream, shallow conversation … staying in the present moment and not escaping into the past or projecting into the future, alert and attentive to the now … feeling relaxed and not nervous or jittery … no need to impress or dazzle others or draw attention to myself… Unselfconscious, a new way of being with myself, a new way of being in the world … calm, unafraid, no anxiety about what’s going to happen next … loved and valued … just being together as an end in itself.”
If we could just focus on being with God and not let so much in our lives distract us FROM Him, perhaps we’d grasp what it really means to live for God. Imagine how different our lives would be.
Wow! So much to absorb—It’s simply amazing. God is here! Now. Always. What He wants most is to enjoy me being me with Him. He wants us all to realize His love, His particular love.
I have a new website about my books – you can download samples, listen to the audio book GOD IN SANDALS, read 100 pages of HIS KINGDOM COME…http://www.wix.com/mmontreuil/author-site
Measure your life by loss instead of gain
Not by the wine drunk, but by the wine poured forth
For love’s strength standeth in love’s sacrifice
And whosoever suffereth most hath most to give. –Hudson Taylor
God has the most to give, has sacrificed the most, and loves the most.
I just returned from a late evening walk in the park down the street. The moon isn’t full yet but it’s only Tuesday night. By Friday night it will be a brilliant globe of light, whether visible or not. The moon is full every year at Passover. It was full the night Jesus led his band of closest men outside to await arrest in a garden.
When we remember the Passover Lamb of God, the horror of His suffering, the amount of love He poured out for our sakes, and the fact that He gave up the glory of Heaven, and took on the sins of the entire world to save us . . . it is unfathomable.
Seeing the human side of Jesus brings perspective and a deeper understanding of the love He has for us and is why I wrote the devotional book, God with Us. My effort was to create a contemplative “journey through the Gospels” and, so, I imagined that dark, moonlit night in the Garden of Gethsemane through James’ eyes, one of the three men Jesus invited further into the garden with Him to pray; it was a good distance away from the others for good reason. Here’s an artist’s creative rendering, so to speak, as I prayerfully imagined the meaning of that night about two thousand years ago.
James, son of Zebedee . . .
The soft glow of the oil lamp gently lit the face of our Master. We were about to leave the upper room. His expression was warm and serene when He said, “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
After He said this, he looked up toward heaven and prayed. Whenever Jesus prayed out loud in our midst, I was transported. At those times, it felt as though He took us to heaven with Him. I can still hear His fervent voice as He prayed that last time with us. Intimate and beautiful, His words of intercession and communion with His Father revealed a heart full of hope, vision, and care. First, He prayed to His Father for His own glorification, then for us, His disciples, and lastly, for all those in the future who would believe in Him.
I’ve come to see His prayer at that time as a bridge He was crossing. He was leaving us to cross over to His Father and return to His heavenly glory. But during that moment of prayer, we stood on that bridge beside Him. WE looked into heaven with Him.
I know that He always intercedes for His own–and will continue until we all become answers to His prayer. For He prayed that we who were His would see Him in His glory and be there with Him. Yes, He prayed that we would rejoice with Him in His glory–I know He prays this still, for those yet to join Him.
And He prayed that we would all become one, even as He is one with His Father.
Our hearts had soared during His prayer.
But everything changed suddenly in the darkness of the olive grove. His prayers changed just as drastically. We could hardly bear to listen. After hearing His anguished cries, John, Peter, and I fell asleep during the long stretch of lonely silence that followed.
We know now that His agonizing prayer in the garden was another bridge: between our damnation and God’s salvation. This was a bridge we could not bear to share with Him. He had thrown Himself down upon that bridge–and He was alone. In our despair, we could not bear to keep watch with Him, so we fell asleep.
“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” He had confided to us as He took us deeper into the garden–so that He could pray privately. He knew we could hear Him. Surely, He knew. And I don’t know why or how we could have fallen asleep. But in doing so we added disappointment to His terrible grief.
The garden was so dark. Gloom and despair hung heavily in the air all around us. We were hiding from the authorities, or so I thought. But Jesus wasn’t hiding–He was waiting. He knew His betrayer would lead the rulers and soldiers to arrest Him in the garden, just as He knew the rest of us would desert Him–and scatter to safety. That is why He brought us to the garden, away from the upper guest room. If we had stayed there, surely, we would have been arrested with Him.
“Are you asleep?” Jesus sadly asked us, not once, but three times, each time stepping away from His prayer-bridge to check on us. He wanted us to be near Him. He didn’t want to be alone.
What good were we to Him? I don’t know. As a man, He needed us. As God, He knew the terror that faced Him. We didn’t know–so we left Him there on that terrifying bridge.
Finally, Jesus’ prayer ended and He crossed the bridge. “Not My will, but Your will be done.”
The night has changed as I finish writing this. Dark, stormy clouds have moved in. It’s thundering softly. I am thankful that the Holy Spirit quickened my thoughts about Jesus in the garden, in weather probably simlilar to this in Charlotte. When I glanced up into the moonlit sky earlier, I felt the presence of Jesus. We’re in communion now because of the decision He made that night. I am so blessed to remember what He has done for me, and to thank Him for the bridge of sacrifice He crossed so that I could know Him and His extravagant, limitless, unconditional LOVE.
Watch this and be blessed — it is called How He Loves Us – Kim Walker/Jesus Culture.
For the last month I’ve stepped into another unwanted transition. It isn’t the first time I’ve been in survival mode within five years, but this might be the bleakest. Things could be worse, of course, so I count my blessings, but not without questioning the Lord in my prayer times. Hmm…I’ve wondered, for example, why I’m encountering what begins as particularly well-suited opportunities, that turn into closed doors and deferred hope. Knowing the particulars involved, I can easily blame our hurting economy, which is also in survival mode.
The timely sermons at church encourage me not to worry but trust in God, to make Him my one and only. He’s the Source of all we need. The Lord continues to get His point across to me. His mercy and understanding is a flood of grace whenever needed. It comes on an “as needed basis” for those He calls His own. I am also looking hard to find a job, but I start to worry if I think too much about how and where to live, and about those who need me. I try to keep focused on Jesus, who walked on water to get across a stormy sea and to the place He was heading.
It seems I am sitting in a boat, it’s terribly dark, stormy, everything is tossing and heaving, and I don’t even know which shore I should head towards. At this moment, all I see is Jesus and He’s barely within sight of my pitching, frightening situation. So, I live these days in faith and trust, but not without occasions of panic.
Putting the present aside for a moment, I perused some of my earlier blogs here. I read the one “Mountains of Glory” which, by the way, gets the most hits. I reminisced about my mountaintop experience with the Lord when I went to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and the Mount of Beatitudes along the Sea of Galilee. That was in 2009. In 2010 I completed the novel the Lord inspired me to write: His Kingdom Come. It turned out wonderfully. 2011 hasn’t been so kind.
My past blog helped me remember the beauty of Jerusalem and the Galilee area, Israel’s two sacred mountains, the inspiration I experienced and the acute sense of the Lord’s presence I felt there. The holy ground of those mountains beneath my feet, the view my eyes beheld . . . the memory is still vivid. I felt on top of the world there and God’s Spirit burned true and real within me. Those were bright, heavenly places. And I knew then that we live in the days ushering in the climax of the Ages – the nearness of our Beloved’s return. So, although I am in a different place right now, I know it’s not forever and God will intervene for me.
The other day I read Luke 18:8 in which Jesus unveiled His heart so poignantly: “…When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
Faith means everything to the Lord. I’d like to live this time of uncertainty and at least give Him a little pleasure – if nothing else, that He will see my faith and smile.
A few days ago while I was praying, the Lord showed me something that still has me thinking and rejoicing. I felt desperate for Heaven—wanted to see Jesus—you know, that passion that rises up in His beloveds sometimes because we have the “gift” from the Holy Spirit that causes us to desire Him so much.
This desire for Heaven is not because I am ready to die because I am old, even though I’ve lived for 61 years. Most of the time I feel more like about 25 or so on the inside. My 81 year old mother says she feels the same way. Our souls simply do not age, do they? They are young. I suppose it is because God didn’t design us to die when He created humankind to start with. Since we live in a state of fallenness—and have since the days of Eden, our bodies eventually die but our true selves (our mind, heart, soul, and spirit) are eternal—made in God’s image. My desire was for Jesus. In this life, we must die to attain that reward.
I prayed: Let me put on the heavenly body… let me be like You and be with You!
Of course, it would be great if He’d come here—I’d rather not have to die. I asked Him why it must be like this… Why can’t I see You when it is all I really want? Why does it have to be this way—that we can’t see You until we get to Heaven?
I told the Lord that I long to know Him like I would know anyone whom I love this much … to intimately know Him … His mannerisms … to recognize the crack in His voice when He speaks… the tone of His voice … the sound of it. What does His laugh sound like? To know how His eyes narrow or light up in certain situations … to be able to recognize Him from the back from a distance just by the way He walks. I know these are human desires for a “human” Jesus. Just the same, I want to know Him like that. I want to really know Him in the now—in reality. I realize if I want to see him as He is now—in His glory—I’d need to leave this planet and this body.
Here’s what thoughts came to me from the Lord: One day you will have all you wish for and much more than you can imagine. For now, I will tell you something. I am most pleased when I am loved and desired by faith—sight unseen. When I experience your love by such faith, my heart swells full. These days you live by faith, they will pass by fast. These days are short and will seem like nothing to you one day. For now, I am pleased, so pleased by your faith. It really affects me—you can’t imagine how much.
In this listening prayer experience, I felt His feelings too—which was powerful; undescribable really. I know this much: Faith and Christianity wasn’t meant to be a belief system, or an organization with moral codes and traditions to keep, which is what some people think and experience. It’s not what the Lord wants.
I rather think He set out for one thing: to sweep us off of our feet. Faith was meant to be a love affair. I wonder what Heaven will be like—well, it will be Heaven because we’ll be with Him. Really, I can hardly wait.
By the way, I sent HIS KINGDOM COME to the publisher WestBow Press. I’ll let you know when it’s available—possibly in a few weeks. I’ve posted the first 11 chapters (out of 52 chapters) on my web site. Feel free to pass it along to others — it can be downloaded and attached to email because the excerpt is in a pdf file. Send me an email (link is on my web site http://www.margaretmontreuil.com )if you have any difficulty.
It will help the cause of spreading this bit of Kingdom News in telling others about the new novel. Enjoy!
Looking for something in an old box stored away, I came across a few prayer journals. I started looking through them. One from November 1996, made me smile. I don’t usually do this, but I thought I’d share what I just read from it, a prayer/poem I wrote to the Lord fourteen years ago.
***
Thinking about how God called Himself “I AM.” God’s name for Himself seems to me like an unfinished statement. “I Am”… What? I desire to know Him truly and entirely for who He is. Jesus of the Gospels is in glory. I can’t see Him as He really is. Not yet. So, I must become intimately comfortable with Mystery. His intimate presence is real and I want to know Him for real — but can I? How? He remains so much of a mystery.
He is everywhere. He is within me. Yet He seems to be absent.
I think His language is less words and more action. When I settle comfortably into Mystery, am I really with Him? Am I “In heavenly places, seated with Christ Jesus?” What an amazing mystery is that?
He is Divine Loving Mystery. Yet, He has revealed Himself to me through Creation, the life of Jesus, the Bible, and His involvement in my life.
I long to know Him more.
Divine Loving Mystery,
Oh, how I long for You
Are your eyes sky blue?
Are they clear and deep loving pools?
Your face is mystery.
What about your voice — for true?
What gentle, soothing sound floats downstream of Your loving heart
Carried by tone and inflections?
I know in hearing them, I’d know You
Sometimes silent in strength You speak, yes, this too
I long for the human melody of Your mouth
Even if it’s scolding firmness to hold me close
And is there a voice not human in sound
That would roar or thunder more appropriate speech?
Your voice is mystery.
And, what of your gait when You walk?
Oh, what I’d give to watch you along Your way!
How does one follow in Your shadow today?
Passing among people, intent with purpose, You’d go
Sometimes are your shoulders bent?
Or, do You always carry the world with ease?
Straight and held back – confident and able?
Is Your stride determined?
Sometimes when You are passing, do You linger and watch?
Are our troubles too painful that You must stop to stare?
Do you reach out and touch and care?
Because of our choices do You steadily press on?
Have you ever even run?
How do You walk among us, Divine Loving Mystery?
And, what would I do, if suddenly here You stood?
Before me, everything I ever wanted or dreamed; yet beyond all, You’d be
Oh, Divine Loving Mystery, I know I’d be undone
So, really, I’m afraid for You to come
I’ll wait then, until it is time, both content and longing for You,
Divine Loving Mystery, I love You.
***
A while ago, I pondered how Moses asked God, at the site of the “burning bush” what His name was, so he could tell his people in Egypt who was sending him to deliver them from bondage. Well, God’s answer was “I AM” – meaning “I Exist”…
We all have names because somebody named us. Nobody named God because He always existed. I’ve wondered if it was that simple. With God, things are at once simple and complex. After all, how can we wrap our minds around the fact that He always existed? That’s mystery too.
Do you keep a prayer journal? In some ways, mine is like a diary. I thought about that and looked up “diary” in the dictionary. Amazing. Look at this:
From Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary:
DIARY
Function:noun
Inflected Form:plural -ries
Etymology:Latin diarium, from dies day — more at DEITY Date:1581
1 : a record of events, transactions, or observations kept daily or at frequent intervals: JOURNAL; especially: a daily record of personal activities, reflections, or feelings
2 : a book intended or used for a diary
We are referred further to the word “deity” and here is that definition:
DEITY
Function:noun
Inflected Form:plural -ties
Etymology:Middle English deitee, from Anglo-French deit*, from Late Latin deitat-, deitas, from Latin deus god; akin to Old English T*w, god of war, Latin divus god, dies day, Greek dios heavenly, Sanskrit deva heavenly, god
Date:14th century
1 a : the rank or essential nature of a god : DIVINITY b capitalized : GOD 1, SUPREME BEING
2 : a god or goddess *the deities of ancient Greece*
3 : one exalted or revered as supremely good or powerful
A prayer journal is, therefore, a diary, and it keeps a record of what Deity is doing with me on a daily basis. I record my thoughts FROM Deity in this journal–and what I say to God. An amazing example of how wonderful this experience works is what happened just lately.
One morning as I was taking a shower, the thought occurred to me that when Jesus said: “Whoever believes in me, asthe Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him” (John 7:38). I thought about what “living water” meant to the ancient Jews during Jesus’ day. Water in arid lands was scarce and so vital for their survival that they had to find ways to store it when it came. The people used the term “living” water when speaking about water that came from Heaven and was moving or rushing. Living water to them meant rainwater — what came down from heaven — and running water, as in moving and rushing down mountains and streams. The premise was that living water would be moving, clean and pure–on its way to give life. Well water or water in a cistern would not have been considered “living” water because it was not straight from heaven, or moving. It was at one time–but they had to store it. Therefore, it was stagnant and may not be as pure as it had been.
With those thoughts, I prayed: “Lord, make me a water pipe for your Living Water. I want to water the earth — make it green and full of your life — run your Living Water into me straight from heaven and out through me.”
Later that morning, while I sat with my prayer journal, God’s words came to me (into my thoughts): “Anything can happen at any time. You wonder about chance and how it seems to you the way the world, YOUR world works. What happens by chance and what is by Divine intention? It is both. For example, the person beside you on an airplane has the flu and you catch it. Or, your resume gets into the right hands at the right time–or doesn’t. Do things happen by chance? Yes and no. I am God and I have my ways to intervene, or to make happen. Chance and Divine intention work together for your good. You live in a fallen, sinful world–but I work within chance, the choices you make and others make that affect you. I inspire and direct you and others. Free will comes into play. But, you can trust Me even though the world operates so much in what feels to you like too much chance.”
Just then my phone rang. It was someone asking me if I had time for a phone interview later in the day. She had received my resume and I had a chance for a job I’d applied for. I was so excited. I asked her what the name of her company was so that I could look it up on the internet to prepare for our interview. She told me the name. When I looked up the company — you’ll never guess what they do! They make gigantic, city-serving sized WATER PIPES. I could “hear” the Lord’s laughter as He watched my reaction to this.
I’m telling you — keeping a prayer journal is an adventure with the Living God. Well, I didn’t get the job with the water pipe company. In fact, the next person who called me about my resume happened to be the owner of a company that made storage tanks and pipes for oil. Now, that takes all! Because we are told to keep our oil lamps filled and burning as we await the return of the Bridegroom. Hasn’t God often referred to the Holy Spirit as oil?
Next week I will be at the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference. I hope to find a place for the living water and holy oil God’s put into my life to pour out in the way of my new book entitled HIS KINGDOM COME about the birth of the Church in Jerusalem. God is good! God is my Provider. Let this be a little reminder about the pleasures that come when we take time to reflect and interact with God on a daily basis. The Holy Spirit is ours to commune with whenever we wish. What an amazing thing. Living Water straight from Heaven runs through waterpipes (us) and can water the whole earth. Keep your oil lamps filled and be God’s light to the world.
I’ve been writing the story of the birth of Christianity and, in the process I’ve been pondering some realizations. One of them is the idea of how God hides things from us when, all along, He waits for us to find them. God is full of mystery but when we are willing to lay hold of Him through faith, it’s amazing how much we really can grasp about Him. Because of that “leap in the dark” we must all take to truly become believers, it doesn’t take long at all before we are able to grasp some amazing wonders. We move from the darkness of skepticism or just plain unbelief to the discovery of the brilliant Light and meaning of God and His beauty and goodness. Once we move beyond initial faith, then we begin to grow through a multitude of ways. One of them is that God uses hidden things to teach us. Yes, hidden things are revealed only to those who hunger for Him.
He does this on purpose. He uses parables and riddles, hidden meanings in Scripture, unusual coincidences, phrases with double meanings, a variety of secrets must be searched for. These are ways God hides and waits for us to find. How He enjoys hide and seek!
While writing a scene in the story, I wondered how it was for the characters who once knew Jesus as a friend or as a brother, you know, people who walked beside Him, that had to later learn how to know Him the way we do. After He ascended into Heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit, so He could “abide” inside of them.
Here’s the thing. They had to move from knowing Him outwardly to knowing Him inwardly. Talk about “hidden” things . . . What must they have thought when hearing the “still small voice” for the first time? Did they relate to Jesus even more intimately than they had before? I believe they did.
They had to learn how to relate to Him in a whole new way. He was “hidden” from them. Yet he was much closer to them than He’d been before.
This must have been an amazing transition. Can you imagine? Here’s a little snipet of a scene that tries to capture what that might have been like for one of the characters. (Note: Jesus is Yeshua in Hebrew.)
As soon as I blew out the flame of my lamp, I heard his voice, or was it a memory?—I recalled the evening Yeshua had come to me for a talk during the Feast of Tabernacles, I had been his enemy at that time. He came to me and we had an amazing conversation one night in my temporary Tabernacles booth.
He had picked up my oil lamp and held it in his hand, saying, “This lamp now shines in the day and you don’t need it in order to see. But tonight when it’s dark in this booth you will not be able to see without it. I am the Light, Judah. Because it’s day, you don’t realize you need the light, but what will you do when darkness falls? Judgment is coming to those who refuse the Light. They are already judged and will die in their sins. I’ve come into the world, not to judge it, but to save those who believe in me.”
At that time, I had been building in my mind my reasons I was against him. I wanted to take each blasphemous thing he had uttered and use Scriptures to judge him. Instead, in his mercy, he had judged me—and saved me.
“Yeshua,” I prayed quietly, “you are the Light of the world. Here in this dark room, with my lamp extinguished, I can see clearly that you are my Lord. Thank you for saving the disciples yesterday. Bless you, Yeshua, for sending your precious angel to escort them out. Bless you, Lord, for setting me free to do the work I am meant to do.”
“Lord?” I waited to see if he would speak to me. After a long stretch of silence, I heard him say, “Judah, do you love me? You bless me and you thank me, you praise and worship me. People bow down to their altars and their gods, they worship their idols. My people have worshipped me with their altars, their sacrifices, their rote prayers, their traditions and their tithes, yes, and in so many ways, they say they know me and serve me. But their hearts are far from me. Come close to me as I have come close to you. I am the Light of your heart, not just the world. I want your heart to be full of my glory. Do you love me? I love you as the Father loves me and as I love the Father. This is the depths of love you are invited to drink from. Drink deeply, Judah. This is the wellspring of eternal life.”
In what ways do we listen to hear God’s voice? He is waiting for us to seek him–he has many wonders waiting to be revealed to us.
Have you ever noticed how sunflowers bend or turn to face the sun? It amazes me how much our hearts are so inclined to face the Son. We simply want Him and need Him.
Christian Book Author Margaret Montreuil's Blog 