. Not that there is sufficient clearness for man to gain a full knowledge of God by looking at the world, but… the faithful, to whom he has given eyes, sees sparks of his glory, as it were, glittering in every created thing.” That’s what Calvin had said. “The world was no doubt made that it might be the theater of divine glory.”
I got this quote from a beautiful post in Ann Voskamp's blog: http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/04/what-your-scars-can-really-be/
I was given this little necklace for Christmas. My family meant it to tell me that I completed the puzzle of our lives together. God has been using that gift lately to speak to me.
May 11-25, 2005
To be approved. Does it mean having nothing left "wrong" within me? Not exactly, for it is different from human approval in that respect. God does not say "put it right and you'll get a good grade from me" so much as saying "accept the light of Jesus Christ" over that thing. When something in Scripture irritates or when it seems that a "besetting sin" or a "ruling disposition" hangs on tenaciously, then this is the time to ask fearlessly for that thing to be brought into the light. He sheds light and obedience becomes possible where previously only failed efforts endlessly cycled.
But, sometimes approval demonstrated takes the saint off the traditional path. If it is out of love for God that the demonstration is made, He will affirm it before those who would deal out shame, as He did when the woman "wasted" costly oil to anoint him rather than spending it acceptably, to feed the poor. Chambers says, "Many are loyal to the 'notion' of Jesus but not to Jesus himself." (March 28, My Utmost...) He will raise up a standard for those who face the condemnation of others whose notion of Him is interfering with timeless reality. He will approve those who are actually working to show their love for Him.
But why is it so hard to yield this disposition that rules but is not of God--why are we more often like the one who trusts for approval to be found in these notions instead of in the Holy One? I think fear of loss of identity, control, lack of trust that God can balance both our best interests and His own glory, ignorance of the power of His grace. All of these can make notions seem safer than a living being is. But we must yield, and God's grace will prove sufficient, even as it was for Paul's thorn in the flesh--that thing which poked his flesh, making his carnal self cry for attention.
And what of "inner desolation" in life? Are these indications of periods of disapproval? What of unmet requests? I do not know if I can bear being asked to carry the banner of approval when its fabric is woven in circumstances so harsh that faith alone gives me the breath to say "Even yet, it is well with my soul."
The disciples would shoo the children away, but Jesus invited them to stay, and their approved status He called exemplary; but the rich young man who came displaying his 'righteous living' along with his worldly wealth, this one shooed himself away when that wealth was dismissed as a throw-away thing in the kingdom of God. Not all wealth is monetary; but in this world, most all of it is earned--including the temporal honors associated with a good-works lifestyle. This young man couldn't get rid of the idea of earning heaven like he'd earned everything else.
Approval and timing. It is important to make a distinction between submitting to God's approval in the context of His ordained condition of Time over the life of man, between this and what is termed "situational ethics." If that last term is painted with too wide a brush-stroke it doesn't leave God room to call a thing right or wrong based on its timing. God said the timing was right for the death of Jesus when He was a grown man, but wrong when He was a baby--too broad a swipe of that term "situational ethics" and God must stand condemned for this change of posture over time.
I look again at the puzzle piece, and I think about the way I've spent the last week. I did not look at the old journals because I was living in the now. I spent this past week visiting with a group of women in what felt like a sacred, organic, mini-retreat that was commissioned by God alone.
We still sit wondering what to do with this mysterious thing. We've chatted back and forth a bit about it, and the prevailing feeling is, "I'm still processing." This is common enough when a retreat is planned and prepared and presented by those trained and called to such a ministry, but when everyone involved feels like the pilgrim, then it is a strange thing indeed. I don't know that I've ever experienced a gathering so utterly Spirit-driven until this one; Spirit-controlled, yes but humanly driven. This...this was different. Now we're wondering whether and how we might be able to share such a thing with others.
I thought of how the words "seamless joining" seemed to hover in my mind as I left my time with these friends and traveled home, and I wondered what these words might mean. I consider them now in this give-and-get context, indeed like pieces in a puzzle--all fitting together, separate but equal; everyone giving and receiving as the Spirit offers each a place to fit seamlessly--no place gaping or uncomfortably tight, because there was no one of us that orchestrated relevance.
I told them I thought we were like a first-fruits of something larger, and I think that all the more now as I opened my Bible and read this morning:
In the meantime, when so many thousands of the multitude had gathered together that they trod upon one another, he began to say to his disciples first, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore, whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops." Luke 12:1-3
Multitudes are treading on each other.
Hypocrisy does spread like leaven.
But we saw none of it in our little calling-away. So Christ's words that often must serve as warning could instead act as a blessing and a promise of redemptive things soon expanding.
We were present for the precious whispers in the private rooms.
I review them in my heart with fondness. But my feet...
My feet are already climbing the stairs.
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