Shattered ("Through" Part II)

Another of the Christians with us in our discussion at the Veritas Forum had before used the illustration of how we are a lot like children standing next to a hot stove, and God, our loving Father, telling us not to touch the stove, but still we continue to reach out, our hands drawing closer and closer. And then we get burned. Just as He said. And I discovered this to be a perfect analogy for this situation as well. The reality is we all sin, we all have rebelled against God. And even though our God disciplines us, tries to teach us, when we go to touch that burner, it is hot, and it will burn us. So was the burning itself God punishing us? Or merely the consequence of our own foolishness?

The punishment the Israelites endured because of their rebellion against God was something they had been warned about by God Himself. Even with the reality of the world beyond our own being so much more in that day, the knowledge of God and what He had done for them so much more vivid, time and time again they refused to listen, and time and time again they found themselves burned and blistering. Just try skimming through Judges and you'll see how insane it was. A nation of bipolars. And so they time and time again had to deal with the consequences of that disobedience. Even today, we are forced to deal with the consequences of the rebellion of Adam and all that has happened since, a curse passed down through the generations. A curse that continually ravages our world.

Is it fair that we should be forced to live with the consequences, punishments, and pains caused by the sins of others, even those who came far before we did? Maybe, maybe not.

But is it fair that others should have to deal with the consequences of our own sins?

Everything we do has a consequence, in both this world and the next, so before before we point the finger and lay the blame perhaps we should take a moment to remember this. For those of us who have embraced the Love of Jesus we have hope and security in what lies ahead, but still in this world of sin, of darkness, loneliness, heartache, suffering, death, and depravity, the consequences of our sin are still very much real.

And so we find ourselves back in the tunnel.

The tunnels of everyday life are a simple yet harsh reality of that life. But they aren't there because of some sadistic madman who spun the world into motion and then left us to try and fend for ourselves. And like I said before I don't pretend to have all the answers to the "why" questions in all this, but I have seen one thing: our God loves us.

And because of that Love, in which there is boundless hope, comfort, joy, and power, we can make it through. Not just around.

We want His best. But that's the thing about the best...

We're going to have to make it through.

And so we can.

Through.

Sometimes we need do need to be disciplined...

"And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
'My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.'
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 'Make level paths for your feet,' so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed."
~Hebrews 12:5-13

Though this may not always be the case.
So why does our God give us these things that become our tunnels? And why would He ever lead us through these tunnels? At least the ones we don't trap ourselves in...

Because maybe sometimes, just maybe, it takes a little blunt force trauma to see what's behind the mask. The man, the woman, the child, the hopeless wreck who wants nothing more but to see and show the reckless abandon of the love of our God, to be the one we feel inside wishing to burst forth and show the world what has happened to us, what we have truly become, not what circumstances or people or anything else have us currently portrayed to be, trying to be, acting, where it all feels so temporal, fake even, not the man or woman our awesome God has transformed us into and is continuing to shape and form with His miraculous love. To just want to be that, to be real, for everyone to see the passion that has enraptured our every everything, every fiber of our being, all we are, our heart and soul, just wishing to burst forth, like the rushing of the floods of heaven being poured out on His earth, on His people.

God please shatter this wretched, cursed mask.

Because maybe it's what's behind the shattered mask that we need, need to see, need others to see.

Need to really be.

It's when the mask is shattered that the ravishing blessings God has lavished on us, those things that instead became our tunnel, can be seen for what they really are, without the warping of the fall. When the mask is shattered that we can see through the utter darkness of the tunnels of life.

We can finally see. And we can have hope.

Even when life is just being life.

From what I've seen in my meager 19 years, and especially the past four years of the life my faith (the day of the Forum was my spiritual birthday by the way woohoo! and really everything that happened was an awesome present but anyways...), one of the most beautiful and brilliant things I've noticed is that no matter how hard evil tries, no matter how much sin and chaos and confusion and suffering has a hold on the life of a person, the Love of God is still so much more powerful, and when released for even one second can utterly transform the perversion into astounding beauty. How much moreso than in those times when everything is crashing down is there a potential to see the power of the Love of God? How much moreso do we notice the brilliance of the light shining through the crack than when surrounded by darkness? Not that the light is dependent on the darkness, far from it, but we in our imperfect, finicky foolishness that is often never fully satisfied with the brilliance we have been given sometimes forget that which isn't put right in front of our faces in the day to day drag, even though it really is right in front of our faces. So how about that mask?

Maybe we just need to be shattered.

My God, my Father, please show me, show them, what is behind the shattered mask.

Dive Deep.

(As a final note, I know that this topic of discussion is way too big for me to cover as a solo act, and I haven't even said as much as I would have liked even though I covered a wide spectrum of ideas and vantage points, but still with the length it already is if you're reading this I consider that probably a miracle in itself, though I tried to break it up into two parts. But if you have any thoughts, ideas, or questions please feel free to comment, to ask. I would thoroughly enjoy diving deep with you.)