The Lord has been whispering to me, which is a funny thing to say. On the one hand, I feel like He's not close enough to whisper. But this is only from my perspective. Indeed, he must be close enough for me to type what he's been whispering.
He's been whispering something along these lines:
"Can your eyes see, your mind allow, and your heart accept my mysteries?"
His mysteries. Here's how he has been whispering them to me:
Jesus' kingdom message is itself an embrace of mystery. Jesus proclaims to us: my Father's rule is mythically and supernaturally breaking into this world right now through Me, your Curse-Bearer.
He goes on to illustrate this new kingdom reality with more mystery. Jesus says his Father's kingdom is like a seed that is scattered on the ground, remains untended by human hands, and yet grows from the earth all by itself. He goes on to say that this kingdom is like a tiny "pine nut" growing into a massive pine tree (the Message's rendering of Jesus' mustard seed parable).
Stop for a second. When you read that last paragraph, did you think: "Well, perhaps the original readers of those accounts of Jesus simply didn't know how a seed grows." Or, "Actually, a pine nut contains all of the necessary DNA coding to grow a pine tree to its maturity."
Now, without traveling down some sort of long and uncalled-for defense of the intellect of Jesus' contemporaries, suffice it to say they knew enough about how seeds grow to know that if it did not get planted in properly tilled soil, receive adequate water, and protected from the sun and weeds that chances are, it was not going to grow--as any green thumb can readily attest to. And when a seed did manage to grow up into a plant without any sort of human intervention, well, that was so unlikely that it was indeed mysterious.
To look at a vast forest of pine trees, and know that no one planted them. To see a a sapling at the base of a great tree, and to know that it sprouted because a nut dropped from one of the branches. No hole was dug. No food was added. But roots found their way in, and lo and behold, it is on its way to taking its place in the canopy.
It inspires mystery. Awe. Wonder. Even amazement. Mouths dropped at something so unlikely.
Like a God who knows and sees the depths of our (most often hidden) evil and devises an elaborate plan, not for our eradication, but for our redemption.
Stop and let him grow his mystery up in you. Let this great mystery overwhelm your doubt, your shame, your guilt, your fear, your pain, your anxiety. Let your mouth open, your heart well up, and your eyes shed tears at a God who loves so mysteriously.
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2 comments:
I think I missed a lot of the kingdom series from setting up snacks, but this post you've written really sums up my questions and feelings about the mysteriousness of God. I really love the seed growing mysteriously, it makes so much sense in the context of the Kingdom. We don't plant it, water it, or feed it, but it grows on its own like the trees of the forest. I pictured the Rain Forest [because the Amazon is just awesome] and how many trees are there that were NEVER planted by us, but simply grew within the realm they were created to grow in. I guess it's sort of like us too, growing where God plants us. However, we'd rather like to think that we had something to do with our own growth, but I might as well argue that I invented, planted, and watered the Rain Forest if I insist on taking any credit for my own growth. Both are untrue, my contribution to planting masses of trees, and my contribution to my Spiritual growth. If it were me providing my own Spiritual growing, I would have died a long, long time ago from over-watering. I guess this is what they call "embracing the mystery" of God? Letting him work his mysterious green thumb, and standing in awe [mouths dropped] at his Kingdom, and his work in us. Thanks for the thoughts,
Ya know,
I'm sure you get this ALL the time...
..but you did a VERY nice job with your color scheme on your blog. The tree, and the background. It all matches so NIIIICE. Just, so nice. Good eye. Mmmhmm.
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