On the workbench!

I want to be like Josiah…he heard the Word of God and he lived it.  The verse that STOPPED me this morning said Josiah was a King like no other.  He turned to the Lord with ALL his heart, soul and might.  Those are the exact words Moses gave to the people of Israel about 800 years before Josiah.  He heard them, he did them.  Oh, to be like that.

 Me, though?  Sometimes I turn aside from God because watching Him work is hard.  His creation is awesome and beautiful, but the process sometimes terrifies me.  That is because I am not yet made perfect in love…because love will cast out all fear.  But in the meantime, sometimes when I watch Him working in lives, my heart aches.  If I turn from looking at His perfection, I fail to grow stronger; I fail to let others go stronger.  In effect, I prop up a life when a foundation needs repair.  What a waste of energy, what a travesty of restoration!  He alone rescues; He alone gives life.

 Today my son is teaching me this lesson.  The King is shaping Him; it’s hard to watch.  I spoke with him about it and said, ‘God has given you the desire that is beating you up a bit today.  It looks like God is using a rubber hammer to shape you.  Trust Him.’  (Yes, in telling him, I am reminding me.)  His reply?  “It feels like a steel hammer.’  Can you imagine what the Father felt as He watched His Son?  Accepting the will of the Father is LOVE evidenced in this world.  It is not easy in any aspect.

 Every part of me wants to rescue my son, to see light shining from his face and joy bubbling in his heart.  If I turn to my child to bring that about, I will rob him of heavenly treasures of lasting strength and joy.  I must not turn from the One who loves perfectly, who weighs every weight in the bag we each carry.  I must not interfere with the work of the Lord…for my sake, for my son’s sake…for my Lord’s sake.  The LORD alone knows the sculpting He is doing.  I must trust Him and the incredible designs only He can create. 

 

Love for God must trump every other love.  The essence of true love is confident faith in the One who chose to allow His son to suffer that LIFE could flow to all who believe.  How about you?  Is there a life you are watching more than Jesus?  When all of our focus is centered on HIM, life flows from us.  It is the living water this world needs.  It must come FROM God, not you or I.  Let’s be like Josiah—a life like no other bringing hope straight from heaven into a world that needs transforming!!