My wife and I were walking on the beach at sunrise this morning. Clouds on the horizon blocked our view of the sun. My camera remained at my side. A fellow beach-walker, also armed with a camera, turned back. “Let’s hope that tomorrow is better,” she said in passing. About half an hour later, the sun rose above the cloud bank in a glorious display. It made me think about all the times I, too, missed out on God-given opportunities because I gave up too soon.
Also this morning, I read an excerpt from an essay entitled “Rooted and Grounded,” by T. Austin-Sparks:
We are in the Lord’s hands, and being in His hands we are in the hands of a Potter Who knows what He is after… first of all, the vessel is in the potter, and then eventually the potter is in the vessel. What we mean is this, that before ever the potter starts, the vessel is in his mind, in his heart very clearly. The pattern is not something objective, the vessel is already a complete thing in him; and then he gets to work upon it and when he is finished, he is in the vessel he has wrought. What was in Him has come out in it. We say of people’s work: “I can see who made that, it is just like them.” “That is just like So-and-so to make a thing like that.” Yes, He is in His work, He is in the vessel that He makes, and that is just what He is doing. Sometimes that clay has to be pressed down to a shapeless mass, broken. It is not showing all that He intended it to show, there are defects and flaws, and so He crushes it down to shapelessness. A mass without shape. But it is to start again to get something more perfect than has been before, in which He Himself is.
Currently, I’m also re-reading Frank Viola’s book, “Hang On, Let Go.” This book, in my opinion, is pure gold for those who are objects of God’s perfecting work. Here are a few quotes from the chapter I reached today:
A large part of the kingdom message [that is, the kingdom of God] is that Jesus wants to conquer every inch of our beings for Himself.
The kingdom, where God accomplishes His will in and through us, is available to everyone. But it requires surrender.
It also requires that we “go though many hardships” (Acts 14:22)….
Often, the Lord will bring us through a great trial to discipline and train us so that we will learn righteousness in the closed off areas of our hearts….
The purpose of suffering, sorrow, and tribulation is not punishment. Jesus paid for our sins on the cross. The punishment is complete. Suffering, sorrow, and tribulation are for discipline—for child training. They are not without purpose.
Maybe you, like me, are a sincere follower of Jesus Christ who is going through a rough time. It is to do us good in the end. Perhaps we feel that we are being crushed to shapelessness. We should not blame it on forces of evil—although we are not blind to their involvement—or on a vengeful God—this is not His character. Here are voices encouraging us to resist the urge to turn back. To keep the faith. To patiently endure the adversity that our Lord is using to transform us. We will see the light again one day, and the glory will belong to Him.
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