Wednesday, October 12, 2011

On second thought, maybe I'm glad He didn't.


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That's me! And when I'm at home, that's mostly the look that I wear. Leaned over, glasses on, bangs too long, studying something profoundly said by God in His Book on my computer while still wearing my jammies. Matter-of-fact, that's my very look at this moment.


I found myself reading today one of my favorite passages. I read again words that I've often read but love and am deeply touched each time that I read them. They're found in Matthew's 3rd chapter. They tell of a man called: John the Baptist. 


When opening your book to those third and fourth verses in the chapter just mentioned, you'll see what my eyes just saw for the umpteenth time just now: "This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.'" John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey."


John the Baptist, a forerunner that told of His Jesus! John. His name is Ioannes in Greek and means, "Jehovah is a gracious giver." Indeed, I too, can testify and tell of that grace that He gives and He's given!  


I wonder, though, as I read those verses again.... If those verses had told of me, what would my Savior have said? If it told of me, how would they read?



I suppose that this is why I am wondering. I love the phrase that says of John that he is "a voice of one"!!! One! Just one! A voice of one! "A voice of one calling in the desert." And then, after telling what he called out, it so sweetly stops a moment to tell of what he wears and what he eats to give us a glimpse and visual of his description! 


How wild that the Word (as limited as it is in its wording) would take the time to tell us of such minor details!


Again, I can't help but wonder again.... what would it tell if it had told about me? Mostly, I, too, would like to be another "one" with "a voice" ("a voice of one") that "calls out" and tells of Jesus! And people are still very desperate and despairing in their deserts! I pray that God sees me as such a "one"... and that I'll go and call out to them there!!!


Maybe, just maybe, perhaps if told about me, mine would say something like this: "A voice of one calling in the prisons, 'Jesus came to bind up the brokenhearted! He came to proclaim freedom for the captives! He came to set the prisoners free! Jesus came for both you and for me.' Sharon's clothes were always a little bit odd and a little bit different, and her feet were always shod in the highest of heels or some boots. The inmates called her Barbie. Her most favorite faved food ever... was the eating of the manna of God's Word!... because it's the only real food that ever truly, truly, truly filled her!" 


But then again!


He could have written of me as He did of the woman "caught in the very act" of adultery or some other horrendous sin. Woe! He, at times, could have told of me being one of the ones holding the stones ready to cast and condemn another. I could have either been the one that needed the stoning... or at other times, been one of the ones needing the reminder to put my stones down. I've been the blind man needing sight to see! And sadly, too, I've been the Pharisee! I've been the one that promised "never to" leave Him even if everyone else did, and then in the very next few minutes denied Him beside a fire when His enemies questioned me. I've been the one that's murdered like King David (even if only with my words); or like Jacob, I've frauded my identity pretending, as he did, to be somebody else. I've been the one He's called forth from the grave and raised from the dead. And I've been, too, the one that hammered the nails in His now nail-scarred hands.


Woe....What if He had told my tale and painted it a tad bit more graphic than I'd like for Him to tell? Maybe I'd rather He didn't mention me specifically... because it seems He's told of me in so many others that He's already told about. I see myself pictured in more faces than I've ever meant to see me.....
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