Even If He Doesn't

Over the past several years I have come to realize many of the promises of God are not for this earth. Just like every human who walks this planet, I have been faced with grief that has shattered me to my core. I stood next to others when their lives were ripped to pieces. Some days I smash my face to the pages of His promises asking just what are these plans He knows?

"The eternal God is your refuge and His everlasting arms are under you." Deuteronomy 33:27a

I have knelt down next to lifeless ones I love pleading for healing. My heart and soul have wept desperate cries for restoration to obliterated relationships. Then the searing pain of silence when requests seem to be ignored. But then I read again.

"The ETERNAL God is your refuge and His EVERLASTING arms are under you."

This is a promise not of this earth, but of something far beyond the grief that is here and now.

"...If we are thrown into the blazing furnace the God whom we serve IS ABLE to save us...

BUT EVEN IF HE DOESN'T

it wouldn't make a bit of difference..."

Daniel 3:16-18 NLT/MSG

In the darkest moments imaginable, whether in my own life or praying over someone else's, these words come back to me over and over. "He is able...but even if He doesn't..."

"I have refined you, but not as silver is refined, rather I have refined you in the furnace of suffering."

Isaiah 48:10

Will I see this grief as a promise broken or an eternal promise waiting to be fulfilled?

I am a Dandelion

My daughter loves to make wishes on dandelions. She runs up to me with her heart full of joy and asks me to join her in her glee as she blows the little seeds all about the yard, much to the chagrin of gardeners everywhere. Dandelions, after all, are a weed and are to be snuffed out and exterminated so all the beautiful green grass can show through, unblemished.

But, she loves them so much. With all their flaws and with all the heartache they bring with them. All she sees is their beauty. 

Reflecting upon the events of the past week - or the events since the creation of man - the relationships of humankind have been in the forefront of my mind. I am certain I am among many who have cried out to God asking what leads the human race to constantly seek to snuff each other out - to attempt to exterminate each other? Rage fills my heart when I think of innocent people who's lives have been lost for what seems purely evil rationale.

I think of the reaction of my own heart and ask myself, can I love the one who committed such atrocities? 

14 For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Galatians 5:14 NLT

Then, the thought occurred to me: I am a dandelion to someone. Anyone could be a dandelion to someone else. 

Can I see others, with all their atrocities - no matter how terrible - as the beautiful creation God meant for them to be...and love them? Not just love them, but want to scoop them up and give them affection? 

43-47 “You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.

48 “In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”

Matthew 5:43-48 MSG

In spite of my atrocities, God scoops me up and showers me with affection...just like a child with a dandelion.

Grafted In

Reading the Old Testament never fails to stress me out. With all the wonderful songs, prayers and poems there must be just as many plagues, impossible laws, unspeakable cruelties and inexplicable and even disturbing ways of God. But one thing the Old Testament has gifted to me is an indescribable feeling of gratitude. 

...And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God’s special olive tree. - Romans 11:17

Although I love nature, I know nothing of how to cultivate it. So I had to research what it meant to actually "graft in" one branch to another.  Articles referring to fruit trees said grafting in branches was preferable to planting seeds because it created a clone of the original instead of new varieties with unknown qualities. The images depicting the process showed the original branch sliced through the center, the foreign branch hugged tightly between the two parts of the original and tied together. 

This image took hold of my heart as I thought about God creating a way, through His perfect plan, to take hold of me as a part of His original chosen people. In the Old testament I would have been a hopeless outsider, a broken branch left to die on the ground. But God, in His great mercy, wraps me up in His enormous healing branches and revives me with His nourishing roots.

He claims me as His own, grafted in as a part of Himself.

Once There Were Thorns

No matter who you are, or where you have been, it is probably safe to say there have been thorns and briers along the way. At least, for me there are times in life where it feels as though there are entire fields of thorns and huge brier patches growing so tall they would block out any ray of sun that might shine through. 

Then God's promise does shine through.

8. “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
    “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
9. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so my ways are higher than your ways
    and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

13. Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up. These events will bring great honor to the Lord’s name; they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.” - Isaiah 55:8-13

Too often I am so focused on the thorns I can't see the beautiful trees sprouting up all around me. So many questions cloud my vision. Why? How could...? What if...? When will...? 

His thoughts are nothing like mine.  His ways are beyond me.  He will replace these thorns with something more beautiful than I can imagine. His name will be honored. His unfailing, powerful love will reveal itself again and again.

One thorn at a time.

Blind to See

Isaiah 61 just jumped off the page for me one night and I had to paint it. I didn't know how to paint it, but I needed to anyway. So, I went back to the basics of art school and started with blind contour drawings of all the visual elements of this wonderful chapter of the prophet's writings.  

Blind contour drawings are great for anyone to do, because you don't look at what you are drawing, you look only at the object. Create your lines slowly across the surface only as fast as your eyes move across the object, never ending your lines, but keeping them in constant movement. This technique is used to intimately study an object in order to replicate it more completely.

I realized as I was sketching this way in my journal, it was the most amazing way for me to immerse myself in these divine words. The meaning reverberated over and over with the repetitive movement of the lines on the surface. 

"He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted...To all who mourn in Israel, He will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair...they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for His own glory."   Isaiah 61:1-3 NLT

Over every line of the tree...like great oaks that the Lord has planted for His own glory....

Over every line of the crown...a crown of beauty instead of ashes.....

I moved my drawing onto a scrap piece of wood so I could have more space to work. It was so freeing not to worry about what the end result would be. Letting the passage sink into my soul and flood out through my fingers was reviving for my spirit in a way I had not experienced before.

It made me wonder how much more freeing it would be if I could keep my eyes only on Jesus, never looking away, to intimately study Him in order to replicate Him more completely. Not to worry about how things will turn out or get caught up in the details. But just study Him. Know Him. Do my best to replicate Him.