“The Tear”

Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun. And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them. Ecclesiastes 4:1

I have been studying for our Honestly series all week. Even though I already have enough material for several months, my inquisitive mind is never satisfy to stand on the surface of an underlying message. You would think after 49 years I would have hit bottom on at least one topic. But as soon as I have clarity on that level it’s like a Fun Land slide gliding me, swirly, twirly around to land upon yet another adventure to dig for buried treasure.

In Ecclesiastes 4:1, for a moment I heard the grieving of the Holy Spirit through Solomon’s words. So I went back to study the Hebrew text. In the fullness of those words I understood the reason He wanted me to find this jewel!

Then I looked again………..

This is not a flippant second glance. It is when you have turned but there was a shadow, blur or bright light that caught your attention and haunting you till you turn back to give it your full vision; searching to find what you overlooked.

This is what Solomon did. He stopped and turned because of a small translucent glistening sparkle caught his eye and connected his heart and mind when he saw “The Tear”. That tear must have opened the flood gates because the words Solomon uses explains this:

Every single time someone exercised authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner, troubled a person mentally or physically, threatened, caused adverse conditions caused anxiety OR obtained something by force / coercion whether it was information, money etc. using any unacceptable method, Solomon saw it in their tears.

But I believe what truly grieved him was the injustice. The oppressor had so much power over the poor soul, and they would not stop it – they would not repent! Worse yet there was no one there to grieve with the person, to say they were sorry and give them some relief or comfort from what they were experiencing. It was so terribly inhumane!!

I believe what Solomon saw was what Christ bore for us. Maybe Solomon was seeing the past, present and future who knows but God.

Start thinking about what it would be like to see from a transformed mind; to see for the first time, in clear reality. Can you imagine? Wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing? I think about all the distortion of our minds eye and how the perversion of truth / memory distorts the moments of our day that I am moved to frustration and yes maybe even at times anger because it is not how God intended us to live life.

If it were, why would He tell us all things in advance?

It if were, why would He have to send His most precious Son to show us reality and The Way?

If it were, why would He continually tell us to cast down false imagination?

If it were, why would He tell us to be on guard for the enemy is crouching waiting to devour us?

If it were, why would He tell us to be aware of the wolves I sheep’s clothing?

Obviously, I have not even made a dent in this list. Yet we, being so smart and all, act as though it is perfectly acceptable to live in this state as though we don’t need clarity we simply need to trust God.

While I do agree with the statement that God’s ways are not our ways, He makes it clear that the reason we are to be aware is so that we will not close our mind, heart and eyes inward to our own thoughts which will lead us back into confusion.

We do not know what is up ahead, but God does.

We don’t always know what to do, but when we listen, discern and have accurate information in our heart and mind encompassed by trust and faith in Our Father and salvation through Christ we can have confidence that He will be there showing us every step of the way. We will also know that there are Angels standing guard over us. So again, there should not be distortion, confusion, anxiety or perplexity.

It is NO wonder that He told us not to worry about tomorrow --He knew we were going to have enough worries simply wrapping our worldly minds around clarity for today. He isn’t going to cut our time short – so we shouldn’t do it by worrying about our time being cut short.

Just live, laugh, love, and trust in His faithfulness – today! And I bet you’ll get to do it all over again tomorrow – I believe those are pretty good odds =D

With Love and a prayer of Thanksgiving –

Kisses,

Candace

 

©2011Candace Huffmaster, All Rights Reserved

Twinkle..Twinkle

 

Twinkle, twinkle little star

How I wonder what you are

Up above the world so high

Like a diamond in the sky………

We wish and wish and sometime even “prayerfully wish” until we realize there is a higher force with the capacity to propel us. And that is hope. Hope is not realized when we can touch what we see. Hopes job is over when we have obtained. True Vision is where the pieces collectively come together and build within our heart and mind. Creating with clarity all details in order for us to be aware when we are in the presence of what we hoped for. Hope is the fuel or catalyst of perseverance.

Think about it……

Evidence of things hoped for…….How will they know if they have not been told

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Galatian 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again.

I love what Erwin McManus wrote in this chapter “Coming our of Nowhere” in Stand Against the Wind.

Romans 12:12 NCV Be joyful because you have hope, Be patient when trouble comes and pray at all times.

 

 

The quest for enlightenment leads us to the wisdom of God. Wisdom is forged through the crucible of Perseverance.

If Rome wasn’t build in a day, neither is character formed in one moment. There is a process in our becoming all that God created us to be. This is the human side of divine change. Transformation is both the miracle of God and the stewardship of man. Godliness is a result of both divine activity and human action. God promises to do what we cannot do for ourselves and He commands us to do that which He will not do for us. There is both miracle and responsibility. God entrusts us with His resources, and then He hold us accountable for what we do with them. It isn’t very difficult to see that we are not all the same. Some people seem to have gotten an overload when God was handing out talents; others seem less gifted. But be assured there is divine talent in you. It is both waiting to be unleashed and depending on your being a faithful steward with what you’ve been entrusted. While we may be unable to perceive it, the great things of God come out of the small acts of faithfulness. When He finds we can be trusted with small things, we then are given responsibility over bigger things. How we serve exposes how we would lead.

When we are Faithful, we are Trustworthy. The person who is unfaithful cannot be trusted. These tow characteristics are inseparable.

If a person does not achieve his or her God given potential, although we might consider it a tragedy we would never think of it as wickedness. But perhaps we should. After all, the servant in the parable of the talents was declared wicked when what he could have done was measured against what he did. Matthew 25:14-30

 

So in conclusion for today -

Think of perseverance as the key to the door that is locked before you….holding you back from what is on the other side.

Will you endure the struggle with the lock or will you just say, I can’t open it?

Just any shape key does not open the lock. Perseverance shapes our character….Our character is the shape of our future.

Just as the key has to be the correct shape – we also have to be shaped to fit our future (deep huh!)

If we do not have the correct shape, the lock does not open. Our frame work is the skeleton key. God is the iron worker, we are the iron he is shaping. Each door we come before he has to take time and effort to bend us to perfectly fit.

The same key does not open all doors. Each key, as each door lock, is special….just for us. If all keys and locks were the same, anyone could open our doors and receive the things in our store house.

Are we willing to be molded, bent, heated till He sees Him image reflected upon us? He tells us the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. “The implications of faithfulness cannot be overestimated and must not be underestimated.”

My prayer for us all today is that we will allow Him to painstakingly shape us so that we fit into what must be unlocked so all may come to the saving knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord….and be shaped to unlock…and so on…and so forth.

Twinkle Twinkle little star

Is there a key to what you are

Up above our world so high

Is your space, your time to fly

Twinkle twinkle little start

How he loves you as you are

My stanza to you all!

Kisses,

Candace