Friday, March 25, 2011

"Blinded by the Bling"


Go to fullsize imageIsaiah 39:1 "Soon after this..."
Hezekiah was on his deathbed and the LORD sent Isaiah to tell him, "set your house in order, for you are going to die. Hezekiah prays that he wouldn't die and the LORD extends his life 15 years.

When King Hezekiah was well again, he wrote a poem and said: "Think of it--the LORD has healed me! I will sing his praises with instruments every day of my life in the Temple of the LORD." Isaiah 38:20
It hasn't been long since Hezekiah had recovered from his illness, when his adversary, the king of Babylon, sent him his best wishes and a gift. That gift caught his eye. Watch out - the enemy is at the door.

But there's another enemy...that's already made his way inside - into the heart of Hezekiah. He has been blinded "his treasures--his wordly bling". "They came from the distant land of Babylon. I showed them everything I own--all my treasures." Isaiah 39:3b,4. How quickly we can forget the LORD...especially when He blesses us. The words of Hezekiah's poem are still ringing...but Hezekiah has forgotten.

When we are going through a trial, God has our attention in a way that's different when things are going smoothly. The LORD becomes our constant companion...not just in the morning while we are praying and studying. But through out the day and night. It changes how we look at everything and everyone.

All that matters is what the LORD wants...not what I want or might accomplish...but what the LORD had created me for. We saturate ourselves with Him and pour the LORD into all we meet...family, friends and strangers.

When the trial ends...we go back to the way we were. Sometimes slowly, barely noticeable. Other times, like Hezekiah, quickly. We move three steps forward and then take two giant steps back. The urgency to know God above all else and the desire to make Him known is gone and we lose that intimacy.

Strange, that trials, the very thing we don't want...turns into the very thing we need...the valley is the place of vision...where we become what we are suppose to be...utterly dependent on the One who we are utterly dependent on, but have lost sight of it because we have been "blinded by the bling."


Strange that trials, the very thing we don't want...turns into the very thing we need...the valley is the place of vision...where we become what we are suppose to be...utterly dependent on the One who we are utterly dependent on. Here's a poem that I've read that seems to fit:

The Valley of Vision (dont' know author)

LORD, HIGH AND HOLY, MEEK AND LOWLY,
Thou has brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin behold thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoining spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;
Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty
thy glory in the valley.

Standing in Him,
Sharon

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