Amber Fire, a Deep Blue Throne, and THAT Voice

[i][ii]

Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Above this surface was something that looked like a throne made of blue lapis lazuli.  And on this throne high above was a figure whose appearance resembled a man.  From what appeared to be his waist up, he looked like gleaming amber, flickering like a fire.  And from his waist down, he looked like a burning flame, shining with splendor.  All around him was a glowing halo, like a rainbow shining in the clouds on a rainy day.  This is what the glory of the Lord looked like to me.  When I saw it, I fell face down on the ground, and I heard someone’s voice speaking to me.  “Stand up, son of man,” said the voice. “I want to speak with you.”  Ezekiel 1:26-2:1

I have read these words many times; this morning I heard them in three different, distinct voices…the Lion in C.S. Lewis’ Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, James Earl Jones as Darth Vader in Star Wars, and Jack Nicholson in any movie you want to name.  Take a moment to hear them with me. 

We’ll start with James Earl Jones; that deep voice intonation and resonance is impossible to miss.  When the voice spoke from the throne, stand up, son of man, I want to speak with you, I wanted to sit up straight and pay attention; you cannot ignore a command that emanates from the deep dark blue of a lapis lazuli throne.  It was calm, but eerie, and it strangely compelled me to want more.

On reading the text a second time I heard Jack Nicholson’s edgy, bordering on psychotic invitation:  stand up, son of man, I want to speak with you.  I wanted to run away until there were no more places to run.  This is the voice that could freeze fire in its’ tracks…the judgment of a thousand Adolph Hitlers.

After a brief shudder I read the text one more time.  Suddenly, I was one of C.S. Lewis’s child-characters, Edmund, or Peter, or Susan, or perhaps Lucy, and I was in conversation with a talking Lion.  And the voice was decidedly different:  stand up, son of man, I want to speak with you.  This was the friend-voice I’d always hoped God would sound like.

Ezekiel’s description of God as an amber-glowing man from the waist-up, and a splendidly-burning fire from the waist-down, surrounded by a halo of the colors of the rainbow serve to highlight the voice completing the breathtaking moment of an encounter with the glory of God.

We all have our very deep memories of times that influenced or affected us deeply and shaped our character and perspective of life.  I have had some very distinct God-moments where His presence was overwhelming, unlike anything in sound, appearance, or which any other of the senses can describe.  It is what the name suggests…other!  God is like no one else, and when His desire is for you to stand up, because He wants to speak with you…well, let’s just say, it would be a smart thing for anyone to listen.

For You Today

Ezekiel didn’t schedule a God-moment…God did!  On the other hand, God’s word says that when we hunger and thirst after righteousness* we will be filled.  Have you hungered for God to say:  stand up, I want to speak with you?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[i] Title Image:   Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons

[ii] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©
*Matthew 5:6

Now, But Not Yet

[1]

Monday, December 17, 2018

In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat.

The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all.

The cow will graze near the bear.  The cub and the calf will lie down together.

The lion will eat hay like a cow.  The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra.
Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm.

Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for as the waters fill the sea,
so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord.  Isaiah 11:6-9(NLT)

One of the most difficult concepts to wrap my mind around has always been the calling upon the Christian’s life to accept the Now, but Not Yet reality of Kingdom peace.  Peace is a reality now, but will not be accomplished (in the sense that God banishes everything which is not peace), until the not yet part is over; but we are to work towards it, even now. 

That’s like telling me to enjoy my ice cream even though I can’t have it until tomorrow!  While that goes against the typical instant gratification instinct of babies, mature believers have worked through that paradoxical impasse and live in the mystery of now, but not yet.  Though we may not see genuine, lasting, and total peace in this lifetime, we can live-into that quality of peace in Jesus Christ, because the Holy Spirit gives us Jesus’ promise:

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:6-7(NLT)

One thing I have learned about this promise of God’s peace is that it is true, and doesn’t depend upon the circumstances, even if the circumstances scream the total opposite!

My bride is a highly competent administrator.  She has worked with many pastors and denominational leaders assisting ministry in a number of settings.  Once she worked with a most difficult denominational assistant director whose personality bordered on Atilla the Hun.  He was Napoleon and General Patton rolled-up in one nifty, order-spewing package.  He called her from his car one day to read Elizabeth the riot act for the way she had handled some task.  In the middle of his tirade my sweet wife spoke up; she said:  I’m sorry; how can I make it right?  The phone went silent for longer than a few seconds, and when the boss next spoke his whole demeanor had transformed into a calm and rational co-laborer.  He never barked at her again.

Now that kind of makes you believe what Scripture declares:

A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare.  Proverbs 15:1(NLT)

For You Today

When believers are willing to overlook the world’s lack of peace, and live-into their Master’s promises, wonderful things can happen in the Now, but Not Yet department!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com

Ran From a Lion...Met Up With a Bear...Got Snake-bit to Boot

[i]

Thursday, July 14, 2016

What sorrow awaits you who say, “If only the day of the Lord were here!”
You have no idea what you are wishing for.  That day will bring darkness, not light.  In that day you will be like a man who runs from a lion—only to meet a bear.  Escaping from the bear, he leans his hand against a wall in his house—and he’s bitten by a snake.    Amos 5:18-19^(NLT)

Amos was speaking to his culture of the national leaders who would maintain a façade of being “Israel” the special chosen family of God.  However, they were far from worshipping in spirit and truth.  As Isaiah said

And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine.  They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.  Isaiah 29:13^(NLT)

Amos was pointing specifically to those who were crying out to God for justice, praying for The Day of the Lord to arrive; but if God had shown-up their situation would go from bad – to worse – to nightmare!  It would be like running from the lion of persecution and oppression, only to meet the bear of the entrenched power structure, and, in turning away to lean against the wall of self-pity in your own house, and being bitten by a snake.

As those great philosophers Roy Clark and Buck Owens used to sing, gloom, despair and agony on me![ii]

A few months ago I wrote in this space[iii] about a Pyrrhic Victory, where the cost of victory far outweighs what you wind up with.  You start out with 100,000 soldiers to take a hill; the battle is so fierce that you AND your enemy lose 98% of your troops, and blow the hill to smithereens in the process.  You don’t even have room enough to bury the dead in what’s left.  Can you call THAT a victory?

I’ve been thinking (a whole lot) about Black Lives Matter and the heavy duty lifting of the whole cultural swing in which we find ourselves today.  It is a “war” from many perspectives, and there are many more questions than answers. 

Unfortunately, the most angry, (people of color who live with being marginalized and want change fast – so much so, that it would make King Pyrrhus’ head spin…as well as whites who feel their enfranchised control slipping-away) – these most angry make me wonder what will be left if either “wins” or even survives. 

Usually, when Pyrrhus is done the only winners are the circling vultures ready to clean up the battlefield.  And I cannot help but sense that we are running from the lions and bears, right into the waiting snakes.  What are we going to have left for both sides when this is a footnote in the history books? 

On the whole, I agree with the basic premise of BLM – wherever white rule and oppression of people of color exists, it ought to be destroyed.  But the ammunition ought to be the caliber of  what Jesus said through the apostle Paul:

See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people.  1 Thessalonians 5:15(NLT)

For You Today

I have two questions I always ask when looking at what happens in our culture:

          1.     Will what’s being done further the kingdom of 

                God? 

          

          2.     How can I plug-into what’s happening with the 

                reality that only love conquers evil?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…have a blessed day!

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NOTES

[i] Title Images: (Lion) By Anmol Waychal, via Wikimedia Commons, (Bear) By Internet Archive Book Images, via Wikimedia Commons,

(Snake) By Retiredplayboy (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

[ii][ii] GLOOM, DESPAIR AND AGONY ON ME, From the TV Show "Hee-Haw" (1969 -1992)

[iii] Read the devotion here