Further Thoughts On Things

Well, guess what? I had my first paragraph written (and it was a long one) and I lost it. Click! It was gone! Now I have to start all over again. So not only am I running late but I'm having to start again. This is somewhat exasperating! I called up another site to check whether or not our internet server was down again because my husband said he thought it was and when I was finished checking, I closed out rather than returning to my blog! What a dummy! As soon as I clicked to close it I realized what I'd done but it was too late to stop it. [There's probably some way to recover it but I don't know what it is.] Sorry for being late this morning but I overslept and it's even going to be later now with having lost the entire first paragraph of this blog. Well, I have a new paragraph now but it's nothing like the first one. I can't remember what I wrote. Oh well, maybe it's a good thing. Maybe my first attempt wasn't what it should have been. I desire to glorify God in this blog so I guess that gives Him editorial rights. As Amy Grant used to sing, "Nothing can happen to me today without passing through my Father's hands." (You know I can't just say, read, or write, that line; I have to sing it in my head! It's like trying to say the works to Happy Birthday. It can't be done.)

Yesterday evening I started thinking about prayer again and came up with some further thoughts so I thought I'd share them with you to go with what I wrote the other day. What are we to think when God doesn't seem to answer our prayers? As creatures captive within time, we can find all those long silences frustrating! But what we need to understand is that God is outside of time. Time was created for us; not for Him. He doesn't function in the space of time as we do. He doesn't see us as we are here and now. He sees everything all at once ... where we've been, where we are, and where we're going. And he knows exactly how every little decision, or action, or blessing will impact our lives. God looks out for our benefit and He knows that what may be a tremendous blessing for us later on, could completely ruin us now. For this reason, though He hears our prayers, He often gives us time to prepare for the blessing we desire. Remember, it took Moses many years in Midian to become the man God wanted. Moses thought he was that man when he killed the Egyptian, but God knew he wasn't. Learning to wait on God is a difficult thing to do. As humans, we are so wrapped up in time we can't function without it. But with God, He's able to do and see everything at the same time. This is a very difficult concept for me to write about because I just don't think I have the words to fully explain how it is that God stands outside of time. So I hope I haven't confused you. I hope you understand that we are the ones who endure the wait; not God. And He isn't making us wait just to make us suffer. God is a purposeful God, and so if you're going through a time of waiting, understand that God answers every prayer in His perfect timing. Remember that Sarah waited many, many years for the answer to her prayer for a child. But to God, in His perfect timing, she already had that child. Does that make sense? I always say that there are three answers to prayer. Yes, No, and Not Now. And we need to realize that God doesn't work in a vacuum; He works within His relationship with us. Never forget He is actively walking with you, even when His answer to your prayer is Not Now. It doesn't mean He's not there or isn't listening to you; it means He's choosing His perfect way in His perfect time.

Ready to stretch your faith a little? Want to do a little speculating? [I love to do things like this. It opens my eyes to God's possibilities.] If you're not familiar with the miracle of the man born blind in John chapter 9, take a few minutes here and read it, because that's what we're going to be speculating about. You remember that Jesus went about the land healing the blind and the deaf, curing people of all kinds of maladies and diseases. The crippled walked, the deaf heard, the blind saw, the mute talked, and thousands were fed with a few little fishes and some small loaves of bread. Every single day Jesus went around performing all kinds of miracles, setting people free from their life of pain and hardship. He did incredible things and yet no where else in Scripture does anyone make such a fuss about it as they do here in John chapter 9. Here people asked, Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg? The man that was born blind? Some said, He is the man, but others said, No, he only looks a little like him. (see 9:8-9)

So as the story goes on, the Pharisees question the man himself and he admits to being the man born blind who used to sit and beg. But the Pharisees don't believe him so what do they do? They drag the man's parents before them and demand an explanation. We know this is our son and that he was born blind but we have no idea how he came to see. Ask him yourselves he is of age. (vv20-21) So the Pharisees bring the man before them and question him again! One thing I do know, he tells them. I was blind and now I see. (v25) What was all the fuss about? The Pharisees knew Jesus was giving sight to the blind almost every day. But here, in this account, they make such a fuss around this man's blindness and healing. And why did some people say he only resembled the man born blind? Read verses 6&7 again. Do you hear the echo from Gen. chapter 2 with the use of the mud? Listen: "Then the Lord God took dust from the ground and formed a man from it ..." (v7)

You know what I think happened? I think this man was born without fully formed eyes! I think Jesus created a set of eyes for this man right there and then! That would explain the fuss and make understandable the fact that some thought he only resembled the man. I can't prove this because Scripture doesn't really say. But I think Jesus created eyes for the man from the dust (mud) of the ground.

Sometimes I think it's fun to kind of push the envelop on things in Scripture. I mean, I have no way of knowing whether this man was born without eyes or not, but I know for certain Jesus could have created a pair of eyes for him if he had chosen to do so. Let's try not to put God in a box. Instead, when we read Scripture let's think about all the fantastic possibilities. If God took the dust of Gen. 2 and created a man, He could have taken the dust of John 9 and created eyes! Doesn't that stretch your faith? I mean, it's one thing to restore someone's darkened eyes; but quite another to actually create eyes for him right on the spot. We won't ever know for sure on this side of glory, but we just might run into the man who was "born blind" on the other side. And then we can ask.

Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading and may you go through the rest of the day hand in hand with the Lord. Let Him lead you to streams of living waters.