"We think we know what we ought to be doing, and we see ourselves move with the inexplorable deliberation of a machine that has gone wrong, to do the opposite. A most absorbing phenomenon which we cannot stop and perhaps deploring! But it goes on. And as Christ said over Jerusalem, we do not know the things that are for our peace."
-from Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, Thomas Merton
As I sit in a coffee shop, reading the words of the prophet Isaiah, I can't help but let it get under my skin. Desperately crying out, roaming around for years totally naked, exiled, crying out to the people of God to not rely on strong armies and the strength of Egypt, everyday this man was ravished for one thing: the word of God. The more I sip my Toffee Nut Latte, the more I feel absolutely oblivious.
"He humbles those who dwell on high,
he lays the lofty city low;
he levels it to the ground
and casts it down to the dust.
Feet trample it down-
the feet of the oppressed,
the footsteps of the poor."
Delusion is a scary beast. Its very strength lies in its ability to deceive, but more so, to deceive with the mask of righteousness. In the race of modernity the world flashes before us in instants of technological progress, forcing our minds to keep up, forcing us with its instant comfort, scaring us to death of not being comfortable, filling us with anxiety if our comfort is different than the rest. Before we know it, what have we trampled upon to asert this membership of society? There is no time for reflection, no time to ask, no time to understand what happens to me as I whore myself to my work, my degree, my certificate for only a resume and a pat on the back. And all of this of coures is for the good of yourself: so that you can uphold whatever little you hold in your hands now.
Do we know that it will burn? In our nakedness, have we sought the word of the Lord, or have we forsaken the words: "what is first will be last and what is last will be first?"
I have known too many people walking down whatever road they walk down for the single purpose to ease one anxiety about their life. It truely saddens me, although I can completley undertand how we are controled by such fear. (There is more at work here than I can say, and I know that I am speaking of a very large generality.) But I know the feeling of being caught up in the spirit of this world. Before you know it, your nakedness is a foriegn thought to you. Your weakness is written off with, "I'm not really like that," "I'll be better once I finish this thing I'm working on," "I just need to suck it up." We adhere to the words of Merton: "...we do not know the things that are for our peace." We cover up our anxiety with more and more things to do, more and more keeping up with the modern race, and we never strip ourselves naked before the Holy One of Isreal. Before we know it, the false gods cosume our lives and the thought of denying the help of the strong Egypt and surrendering everything to the unseen God of the promises of Abraham fills us with anxiety. The entire point was to have the opposite effect.
What has given us temporal confidence will be taken down. I want to agree with the prophet (although I myself may take offense at his words) the day of the Lord is near when all delusion will be uncovered and all of us will be naked, just as he made himself. For God longs for us to throw away our covenants with death and to embrace Him only as He has forever been in the posture for an embrace, even in all of our filth, if we would just turn to Him.
Thoughts?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
Sucker! You GOT A BLOG!
Awesome.
This is a beautiful post. I'm going to chew on it a little, then respond.
You are an outstanding writer.
The universe was created for us. God knew that we would need it, and like it. He made it for us to have dominion and to honor him with it. This is amazing to me. So all things are made for our good and work for our good. We just need to throw off self by being ever dilligent to see the Face of God. See Him in all things. This is the peace that we need. It is a miracle, revelation possible only through his initiating grace. This perfect peace and freedom is what we threw away for more. This is what was restored through Jesus.
I don't think this had a load to do with what you wrote about but some of it got me thinking about this.
thanks for the comments guys! I really appreciate it.
Seth: true that my friend.
Keep up the blogalogue!
Thanks Snoopy. My soon to be amazing wife and I are moving there at the beginning of September. We're looking foward to it. Is that where you live?
Thanks for the response
This is a great post, Baca.
There may very well be something about living in need, and poverty, and brokenness that makes a person more responsive and open to the Lord. In fact, I'm sure there is, because even Jesus Himself said as much.
Military strength, domestic tranquility, and great riches do indeed have a deceptive fog that accompanies them, and deludes the soul into a state of self-sufficiency, and thereby ease in sin. We find comfort completely separate from the glory of God's presence -- even though it is God's good pleasure and glory for which we have been made.
Yet each of us is uniquely appointed by the Lord to be in this present time and place. Look around you at the deluded souls, and realize that Jesus loves each one of them with an everlasting love, and died for each and every one of them.
Does God hate the land He gives us to live on, and the water He gives us to drink, and the ingenious minds that He gave our predecessors, that have questioned and explored and advanced us to where we are today? Of course not.
But we will need an extra dose of Grace to live in the present time and place where we find ourselves, so that we can live with a heart that beats only for Him.
I'd say that the most amazing thing would not be to look at the people and things around us and curse them because they glorify in themselves, but rather, to be able to allow Jesus through us to touch those around us; and to learn to seek His face in the midst of a busy day, on a crowded street, where the doings of man seem to war against the very God who created them for His good pleasure.
Now that would be a true miracle, worthy of an Amazing God.
OK, so now I've had more time to re-read your post and let it sink in a bit.
I relate to the Merton quote, and to your thoughts. Anxiety that arises from the need for security in this world forces me, or rather, tempts me to find this security in myself, in the world that I myself can create, rather than in the kingdom of God. You described at one point in your blog these "doings" as other gods.
We have to ask ourselves. Are we doing these things and working out these things because we lack the faith that God will take care of us and lead us into His freedom? Are we like the Israelites in the desert, who, when becoming scared because of the desert surroundings, contructed other gods to pray to? Went to other means of reaching the goal, which is peace and goodness?
Or, are we doing these things because our soul longs to do them? And if we are, we should continue to do them. This is where you mentioned you speak generally. Because for some a degree and a certificate are goals they have always longed to reach, in fields where their thoughts naturally lie, and the obtaining of the degree gives them opprotunities to work in the field they love. Others, not so much.
If we work only to secure ourselves to this world, we find this world fleeting and the fruits of our labor dead. BUT, if we work as instruments to God in the full freedom he has given us, we have beautiful purpose.
Again, such a great post. Has reminded me again that faith is required to live unto the Lord.
Chaotic Hammer
Wow! Thanks so much for your imput and thoughts. I really agree with you and I know that I seem to struggle with that. I can be bitter and hold on to things. I can delude myself by being angry and bitter at delusion. What a crazy thing!
Thanks for the reminder that Christ even holds us in our delusion - holds everybody. This is truely a broken and contrite heart; one that can know this.
Fancypants
I think you bring up a good point that the Lord could lead us into a path of a lot of "security" or maybe just a little "security". I'm sure that he does these things, but I think the question is, are we going to thank HIM for these things, are we going to acknowledge Him and not forget Him when we have comfort. I think comfort is fine, and honestly, I pray that God would comfortably provide for me. But that's just it: that I would recieve it from Him; that I would have a thankful heart and that it would continue to be thankful and soft, not hardened by slowly forgeting the provision, grace, mercy of God and believing that it was because of my own strength. Mind you, I find this VERY hard and I mostly feel like a failure all the time. But his Grace is sufficient and I will keep coming to Him even when I'm discusted at myself...I have to, it's the only place where I have ever found life. But honestly, to keep coming back to Him over and over when nothing great is happening and all my sin is raging is so hard that I honestly, in those times, want to throw in the towel with God. Now, this thought of throwing in the towel does not come that blatantly. It is more like, instead of coming to Him when I know I need him, I want to go eat, I want to myspace, I want to...well that's really all I do. (ha ha!). Not that these things are bad, but they are when they take that place. And this is the essential thing I'm talking about: taking the place of the Lord. Whenever something does this, I believe (from Scripture) that He burns with jealousy and it hurts Him and he cries over it.
Merton's quote reminds me of Paul's words. Paul says, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." He agrees that this force is the sin that lives in him. But he agrees that he is a wretched man! He asks, "Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Our hope and our strength does not lie in the delusions of this world of evil, but lies in the strength of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him and by Him are we to lift up our hands and say, "thank-you" this life you've given me I know is from you and I'll use it to the best of my abilities that you have given me.
God has customed designed us and He has given us a vision for our lives. He made us in His own image to use us in this world for His purpose. In Jeremiah, God says, "I set you apart for my holy purpose." We are not our own, but we are God's to be used for His purpose. This can mean different things for different people, and if this means a degree, a cerficate, or whatever material God uses to accomplishes His purposes through us, so be it!
We are created in Christ to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Peace comes from within our hearts and gives life to the body. When we realize we were created by Him, for Him, we can take this life and let our bodies be free from all the anxieties of trying to keep up in this world. We can view our existence as a time to prepare ourselves to a bigger and higher place called heaven. This can take the form of viewing our purposes to better someone else's life, to bring them to Christ, to help the orphans the widows and the poor and be satisfied in knowing that God smiles on us and in the end will say, "well done, good and faithful servant".
God wants us to always turn to Him and hopefully we will in bad times and especially in good times. God wants all of us and when we can release ourselves to Him and become servants and forget about self only then can we see that we stand in the gap of "being" instead of "doing".
I've enjoyed your blog. It has put my mind in thinking mode.
bje-
thanks so much for the comment! I like that: the gap of "being" and "doing." I really hope to truely find my place in it.... Purpose is funny, sometimes I really wish I had a specific purpose for my whole life to grab onto when I don't really know what to do. Then again, sometimes I feel like the Lord hides it from me. I could be wrong, maybe it's just right in front of me and I just don't see it, or something. Anyway, rabbit trail...thanks again!
Great words, bud.
The need to feel 'in-control' or 'secure' is almost a primal urge in our generation. I'm absolutely a person who is able to convince myself that if I can just finish this one project, my life will be better. And yes, it's a control thing. And I learn more every day that not only is the control not mine, but the illusion of having that control is a barrier between God and myself. And yet daily I hear myself saying, "If I could just lose this weight, my life would be all better... if I could just submit that proposal, my life would be all better... if I could just pay that off, my life would be all better..."
That place of total surrender is elusive and I don't think we can ever truly arrive on this side of life, but I hope we can encourage each other to walk a little further on down that road that we did yesterday.
Again, good post!
Post a Comment