Work in Progress
So this past weekend, I was lying
on the couch in our family room, just reflecting and thinking. I had felt in my spirit that something was God’s
will, but a hindrance had arisen unexpectedly, and I found myself confused and
questioning. As I lay there, trying to
sort it all out, I prayed, asking the Lord to help me look past the obstacle if
what was in my heart was truly from Him… and He did. This illustration which is, in a way, a
second part to my last post A New Season, is one that I felt prompted to
share with you all.
As I laid there on the couch, the
Lord revealed to me a vision of a house that was being built, just the
framework having been erected. The house
is our mission as Christians here on this earth; it’s the kingdom of God here that
we’re all being used to build and further for His glory. As disciples of Him, therefore, we are the
wood in the construction of the house.
As I said in my previous post, the
Lord has begun bringing me out of my dormant season in my relationship with
Him, and in the process, I’ve had to leave behind some things of the former
me. Unfortunately though, my situation
wasn’t unique. We all experience dry,
dormant seasons in our spiritual life.
Lethargic times when we’ve grown lukewarm and apathetic toward the
things of God, when it feels like we’re simply going through the religious
motions, seasons when we’ve allowed ourselves to grow out of touch with Him and
our relationship with Him to grow stale.
This is the kind of condition I’m talking about when I use the term
“dormant season.” In our illustration
with the house, if we are the wood that is supposed to be used in the building
project though, when we are in our dormant seasons, we aren’t in active use in
the construction. We are laying
unproductive in furthering the Lord’s kingdom.
If you’ve ever seen a piece of wood
that has been set aside for any long period of time though, you know what
happens to it. Fungus begins to grow on
it. Mold and mildew and lichen begin to
accumulate on the wood the longer it lays there unused. When we are not actively serving God and our
relationship with Him is not what it should be, we too begin to accumulate
things from the world that hinder our usefulness in the divine overall goal. Another way to put it is to compare our
spiritual treks to a journey through a thicket in the woods. Along the way, you pick up burs and thorns on
your pants legs that have to be removed.
You pick up hitchhikers- ticks and chiggers- parasites that will suck
your blood- your very life- out of you. The
fungi and wood illustration is no different.
The fungi on a board of wood will eventually deteriorate the wood until
it decays, falls apart, and is no more.
But a weathered piece of wood can
still be used. However, a process must be
undergone to restore its usefulness. You
can’t just pick up a fungi-covered board of wood and begin building with
it. You have to first strip away all
that has accumulated on it during its dormant season. As the Lord brings us back into a new season
of awakening, of restoring to us life and deepening our intimacy with Him, we
must allow Him to take us on a process of recovering our usefulness. Of polishing the vessel so it can be used
again. Of striping away the fungi so He
can use us to build His kingdom and do His will. We too have to give up some things and shed
off some habits as we move back into our former role of being actively used for
His divine purpose.
Sometimes though, I think we have a
tendency to place expectations of perfection on our fellow brothers and sisters
in the Lord or even on ourselves. We
expect their boards of wood to always be ready and well-sanded. We place them on a pedestal. But even a good piece of pine has its knots. No board is perfect and no person is perfect
either. We all have our rough edges that
haven’t been touched yet in the Lord’s remaking of us. We all have our own faults and flaws that we
need to allow God to sand away as He uses us for His glory. But the good thing is that, unlike a piece of
wood, He doesn’t wait until we’re completely prepared for the building project
before He uses us. He prepares us along
the way. Even with all of our rough
edges still, He desires to use you and He desires to use me just
as we are if we’re willing to submit to His will and follow His directions, His
blueprints. “It was he who gave some to
be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be
pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the
body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and
in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole
measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph 4:11-13)
I
used the illustration of dormant winter awakening into spring in my last
post. We are entering a new
season, but even the bare branches of winter must leave behind the brown and
deadening leaves of its former year to deteriorate as it moves into
spring. The trees cannot bear new fruit
and new blossoms if it clings to its old leaves. Like us, it too has to leave behind the
things of the past in order to embrace the new.
“You were taught with regard to your former way of life, to put off your
old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in
the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God
in true righteousness and holiness.” (Eph 4:22-24) But just as the decaying leaves enrich the
soil, so God can use everything from our past- everything we allow Him to sand
away- to teach us, build character in us, and make us into a better person than
we were in the former season- into the person He wants us to be. Nothing is wasted in His hands.
Despite this illustration the Lord
gave me, the next morning, I was still pondering the obstacle that had arisen
in my heart. I questioned whether maybe
it was time to put up a good fight again and move on, and without my asking for
His thoughts on the matter, the Lord spoke up anyways. He had something He wanted to make sure He
said, whether I asked for it or not. It
wasn’t an audible word- unfortunately, I’ve never His voice audibly speaking to
me before- but often He speaks to my mind in very clear and very distinct
complete sentences, although His words to me in this manner are usually short
but to the point. What He had to say in
that moment was no different. When I was
ready to give up and walk away, He told me very simply, “Not yet, Little One.” (“Little One” is His nickname for me.) The sanding hurts, friends. Sometimes it’s a long process and we’ll want
to throw in the towel. Sometimes it’ll
be easier to just lay there dormant and unused, but I believe that today the
time to succumb to the pressures of hardships and disappointments is “not
yet.” The Enemy wants to destroy your
soul and your usefulness by deterioration and decaying until there is nothing
of you left. The road of slothfulness
leads to hunger and the road of sin always leads to death and destruction. But it’s not too late. As the Lord directs me, I continue to “press
on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in
Christ Jesus” (Php 3:14) and I pray that you’ll allow Him to pick you up too from
where you’ve been laying at the wayside and begin using you in the construction
in this new season as well. “Surely
goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in
the house of the Lord forever.” (Ps 23:6)
*I so love the song Nothing Is Wasted
by Elevation Worship that our awesome worship team at my church
introduced to the congregation a couple weeks ago. If you’re not familiar with it already, look it
up and be blessed!
Photo courtesy: www.123rf.com
~We’ve all heard of the phrase “pulling on her/ his heartstrings,”
but heart-chords? I was struggling to
decide what to name my blog. I wanted it
to be a name that was both creative and meaningful. As I pondered, my gaze fell upon my acoustic
guitar where it stands in my bedroom, and the Lord reminded me that our hearts-
our lives- are instruments. They are
constantly in song, but what melody our heart plays is each of our own
decisions. They can play a melody for
praise or for entertainment. A musician
selects his songs according to his audience.
So do we. Whether our audience is
the world or the Lord, our song will be different. This blog is designed to first, increase my
awareness in finding God and His guidance in my every day and second, to share
the music lessons He teaches me in tuning my heart to learn the chords of
praise He longs to play on my heart-instrument.
Music is a powerful tool. Use it
for His glory. “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of
praise to our God. Many will see and
fear and put their trust in the Lord.” Psalm 40:3
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