Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? You are the God Who works wonders. You have made known Your might among the peoples. You with Your arm redeemed Your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. (Verses 13-15)
...your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "this is the the way, walk in it," when you turn to the right or to the left. Isaiah 30
There is a way that seems right to a man but its end is the way of death. Proverbs 16
"I did it my way." Christopher Dorner might be singing that song somewhere out there today. It was his way or the highway. Because evil always has an excuse for why it must brandish the executionary sword. It's quite a step up from the kid who throws a fit because there are brussel sprouts instead of mac and cheese for dinner so he won't even eat. Life isn't fair. At least not in our rule books. Everyone's path is dotted (or smeared) with occasional "I didn't ask for this" stuff. It's a darn good thing we don't all settle it with a gun. Killing innocents. Because "that's just the way I am." Ewww, boy. Seemed right to Dorner, though. Now he's dead.
I guess sometimes doing it our way works. There are plenty of rich and famous people who claim they are self-made and don't need God. Plenty of homeless would say the same thing. And a gob of us in the middle. So, "at this point, what difference does it make?" (Hillary Clinton, 2013) I would say, all the difference in the world, this one and the next.
Vanessa and I had an experience with the question last week. Struggling with what to do next in her life, she was having a particularly bad day. As Christians, we understand we are put on this earth with purposes God can reveal to us. Created, God says, before the foundations of the earth were set to be His children and fulfill a destiny. Unfortunately, we are human and our paths get mucked up with dead leaves and weeds sometimes and we stop and wait for direction. Which is what Vanessa was doing when she became frustrated. On February 6, I texted her this verse: He will turn your cursing into blessing because He loves you. Deuteronomy 23:5. Trying to understand why she was let go from her job and feeling like we all feel when that happens, Vanessa she said: "I will fight to believe that, Mom."
On February 7, I was dutifully sweating and panting on my exercise bike when I felt compelled to get off the bike and down on my face in prayer for Vanessa's way. Her path. As I cried and prayed, I saw it...the path. It was well lit but there was someone standing in the way. I understood the black shadow to be the enemy of our souls. "In the name of Jesus," I said, "you remove yourself from this way. You've been stripped of all your authority by the cross. You must give way." He did, in my vision. But the Lord made it clear that Vanessa would have to fight this enemy also because it's her path he was in.
"What should I say?"
"In the name of Jesus, get your filthy self out of my path. You have no authority over me!"
A few minutes later. "I saw him, felt him in my way. He is still crouching at the side of my path, but he casts no shadow anymore. The path is filled with light. I don't know what he's waiting for, but I have let him be larger and more powerful than God. He had to stand down like a disciplined dog."
"Exactly what I saw," I proclaimed. "God told me your path is well lit and He will lead you down it but you will need to fight. I'm telling the enemy that beside the road is still too close. He MUST move his filthy self completely away from you NOW!"
It was several minutes before I heard from Vanessa again. Then, "He's gone. That was some powerful stuff that just happened in this room. I've never really experienced anything like that. Hallelujah! Something broke."
Sound crazy? I loved Vanessa's synthesis of this incident when talked about it while walking the beach on Monday morning. The path isn't here. It's there. We expect to see our way spread out before us. A path to whatever our particular desires are. But the path is before God so that He, our Teacher, can say, "Go to the right or to the left. This is your path, walk in it." And that is a daily thing because, evidently there are things to learn along the way. We think our path leads to just one goal. We are created for just one thing. But what our Father knows is that the journey is as important as the end result. Yes, we were created with destiny, but more importantly, we are created for His joy. For relationship on the path.
It is naive to think the enemy isn't going to try to step in the path. He was there trying his same old tricks with our Lord Himself. "Turn these stones into bread." That, before the nails ripped the flesh of Jesus in what Satan mistook for victory. But Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one's road leads to the Father except by that one path. It's His way or the way to destruction. Both paths are strewn with confusing piles of leaves and various twists and turns. But only one path is sure.
...your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "this is the the way, walk in it," when you turn to the right or to the left. Isaiah 30
There is a way that seems right to a man but its end is the way of death. Proverbs 16
"I did it my way." Christopher Dorner might be singing that song somewhere out there today. It was his way or the highway. Because evil always has an excuse for why it must brandish the executionary sword. It's quite a step up from the kid who throws a fit because there are brussel sprouts instead of mac and cheese for dinner so he won't even eat. Life isn't fair. At least not in our rule books. Everyone's path is dotted (or smeared) with occasional "I didn't ask for this" stuff. It's a darn good thing we don't all settle it with a gun. Killing innocents. Because "that's just the way I am." Ewww, boy. Seemed right to Dorner, though. Now he's dead.
I guess sometimes doing it our way works. There are plenty of rich and famous people who claim they are self-made and don't need God. Plenty of homeless would say the same thing. And a gob of us in the middle. So, "at this point, what difference does it make?" (Hillary Clinton, 2013) I would say, all the difference in the world, this one and the next.
Vanessa and I had an experience with the question last week. Struggling with what to do next in her life, she was having a particularly bad day. As Christians, we understand we are put on this earth with purposes God can reveal to us. Created, God says, before the foundations of the earth were set to be His children and fulfill a destiny. Unfortunately, we are human and our paths get mucked up with dead leaves and weeds sometimes and we stop and wait for direction. Which is what Vanessa was doing when she became frustrated. On February 6, I texted her this verse: He will turn your cursing into blessing because He loves you. Deuteronomy 23:5. Trying to understand why she was let go from her job and feeling like we all feel when that happens, Vanessa she said: "I will fight to believe that, Mom."
On February 7, I was dutifully sweating and panting on my exercise bike when I felt compelled to get off the bike and down on my face in prayer for Vanessa's way. Her path. As I cried and prayed, I saw it...the path. It was well lit but there was someone standing in the way. I understood the black shadow to be the enemy of our souls. "In the name of Jesus," I said, "you remove yourself from this way. You've been stripped of all your authority by the cross. You must give way." He did, in my vision. But the Lord made it clear that Vanessa would have to fight this enemy also because it's her path he was in.
"What should I say?"
"In the name of Jesus, get your filthy self out of my path. You have no authority over me!"
A few minutes later. "I saw him, felt him in my way. He is still crouching at the side of my path, but he casts no shadow anymore. The path is filled with light. I don't know what he's waiting for, but I have let him be larger and more powerful than God. He had to stand down like a disciplined dog."
"Exactly what I saw," I proclaimed. "God told me your path is well lit and He will lead you down it but you will need to fight. I'm telling the enemy that beside the road is still too close. He MUST move his filthy self completely away from you NOW!"
It was several minutes before I heard from Vanessa again. Then, "He's gone. That was some powerful stuff that just happened in this room. I've never really experienced anything like that. Hallelujah! Something broke."
Sound crazy? I loved Vanessa's synthesis of this incident when talked about it while walking the beach on Monday morning. The path isn't here. It's there. We expect to see our way spread out before us. A path to whatever our particular desires are. But the path is before God so that He, our Teacher, can say, "Go to the right or to the left. This is your path, walk in it." And that is a daily thing because, evidently there are things to learn along the way. We think our path leads to just one goal. We are created for just one thing. But what our Father knows is that the journey is as important as the end result. Yes, we were created with destiny, but more importantly, we are created for His joy. For relationship on the path.
It is naive to think the enemy isn't going to try to step in the path. He was there trying his same old tricks with our Lord Himself. "Turn these stones into bread." That, before the nails ripped the flesh of Jesus in what Satan mistook for victory. But Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one's road leads to the Father except by that one path. It's His way or the way to destruction. Both paths are strewn with confusing piles of leaves and various twists and turns. But only one path is sure.
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