| | Awed by Sight
Isaiah 31 [link]
I'm not so sure how big a deal it is when it comes to this life.
We look at large numbers of things and go, "Wow!" in this life. I may not personally be wow-ed by lots of soldiers, but I'm wow-ed by lots of food! It all depends on the numbers of "what."
I mean, let's be honest -- if you have a Van Gogh original, it only takes one of them to wow most people who know something about art. You don't need several to wow the people. The number doesn't matter as much as the inherent "worth" or "quality" of what it is. For example, in warfare -- one functional tank is better than 10,000 boomerangs. As far as travel goes, one Porsche would be better than 100 unicycles, but only for some!
Numbers help, but it is the worth of the item that matters most. When it comes to people (or even living creatures), we must be quick to not lump them all into one category. To say, "Scott is equal to his wife, Amy" is true in an overall respect, but in chess you would perhaps not be so hasty to say that. If you were measuring us by our strength or military value, the fact I have shot several types of guns before in Boy Scouts would weigh heavily into your decision once you knew Amy's basically never even touched one before. When it comes to humans, or things with different strengths or weaknesses, then we must be more careful in our judgment. Much like how you would much rather have Amy as a cook than myself, or you would much rather her proofread your paper than me (THAT'S for sure!).
Israel, in this chapter, is wow-ed by Egypt's numbers and Assyria's might. They see something huge and impressive, and then they turn to it for aid. They turn from God because, while they understand He can take on all those people -- they can't see just how big God is, really. It's all cognitive.
It's much like a conversation I had the other day with a guy at work. He's looking to become a marine, and we got into a mini-debate over whether brawn or brains would win in a battle. He then divided it into a preemptive attack, the actual fight, and the post-attack. Ultimately, brains will win, given enough time and resources. My argument was simply that if he came at me right now... it wouldn't matter how smart I was if he was armed and I didn't have time to formulate a plan and prepare for him. Even then I might fail. It's a case of "winning the battle, but not the war." Smart people may win, but no matter what -- I'm going to die right now even if I'm smart!
All that to say that we are quick to lose sight of the war and get caught up in the battle. In the heat of the moment, we think that our lives are the final and most important things. IT's about being on the winning side AND being alive. It's not about following God, but following Him enough to both have our cake and eat it, too. We know Christ wins, and we want to be on His side, but we don't want the suffering or death which may come about "en route" to the end of this age. So we're willing to switch sides (for now at least, if not permanently) to stay alive and keep going, because ultimately... we tend to value life over God.
It's a tricky subject, because if you get it wrong, you don't get a "do-over." Even if you get it right, your family and friends may have adverse reactions to your death. Even in death, things are not quite so simple -- this side of heaven, at least.
I look forward to the day when I'll get my spiritual eyes. Then I'll be able to truly see God. To look past the physical truth as the greatest one, and see the spiritual one as the greater power. Then I'll be able to discern and act as I should now, and my eyes will no longer play a part in fooling me. Sight isn't everything, but once we reach Heaven we'll finally see the one thing we can't in full right now. We'll see God, and we'll finally get it.
Heavenly Father, I anxiously await the day when I can finally be with You as I was meant to be. I await it with anticipation, for then I will finally be able to focus on You the way I should be right now. I will be able to praise and glorify You infinitely better than I am right now (or so I imagine, though upon further thought I'm not so sure). Help me to live abundantly for You. Help me ot glorify You with every action I take. Help us all to praise You, Lord. Help us to thank You properly for all You give to us. Help us to not place ourselves as judge over You, but allow You to be the One over us. Help us to cast aside our idols and petty ambitions, and take up our crosses and follow You. Help us to "die that we might live." Help us to choose You, Abba. I love You. Thank You. May all the glory, honor, and praise be Yours, Daddy.
Amen.
Bit by bit
State: Good
Time moves on, and we try to keep up with it... or something like that. Time's an interesting thing.
Work was good today. I got asked if "gambling" was a sin (in regards to, say, lottery tickets). That was interesting. Unfortunately, the ask-er wasn't so interested in the "why" as much as the "is it, or is it not?"
The rest of work was rather... the same as always. Tomorrow's my long shift. Woo-hoo, or something.
What else... we watched Heroes after supper tonight. I posed the question of what happened to Amy about 1/2 way into the episode. There's still quite a few questions to ask, though. I just think some of the stuff is a little... ridiculous. It's still pretty good, but there are some plot-holes I'm not such a fan of. C'est la vie.
What else? Not much else, really. Things have, overall, been quite good. We do, however, think there are still a few more house-guests (mouse-guests?) here. We can hear them scuttling across the walls occasionally.
Well I suppose that's about it for now, then. God bless, all!
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| | Posted 11/10/2009 8:08 PM - 9 Views - 2 eProps - 1 Comment
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