And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. – Ezekiel 2:6
If you want to know what I was like roughly half my lifetime
(so far) ago – and I don’t know why anybody would want to know – read the whole
of Ezekiel chapters 2 and 3 in your Bible.
I was not like Ezekiel and I was certainly never a prophet but that was
essentially the call that came to me. Amos
is famous for saying he was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet but merely
a fig-picker from Tekoa. I always
thought that sounded about right.
I have mentioned how my wife bought a small King James Bible
that I could carry with me on my motorcycle when I went to work. I was so confused by what I found in that
copy of the Bible that I actually opened up the old one my parents had bought
when I was ten or so and compared passages.
I was convinced that somebody had changed the words. They had not.
The reader had changed. And it
got me into a lot of strange situations with strange and sometimes well-known people,
led me to strange locations, not to be a prophet but to feed prophets until the
brook dried up. It was hard, and it was
painful, but, looking back, I can’t complain.
I have been well-paid for my time since then. The bitterness is my own fault, and I can
blame no one except myself. I just didn’t
understand.
Anyway, I figured I was done. I’m old and tired and ready to back to picking,
if not figs, at least blackberries, plums, apples and grapes. I did
not sit in the company of revelers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone, because
your hand was upon me, for you had filled me with indignation (Jeremiah
15:17). That’s me. Just go away and leave me alone. I am indignant, and bitter. The word might have been sweet as I ate it,
but it turned sour in my guts. I did my
job. What else could there be?
Therefore thus says the Lord: “If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.” -- Jeremiah 15:19
You have the wrong guy this time. This is clearly meant for somebody else. I’ll put it out here on the blog and maybe
the right one will happen by and read it.
“And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the Lord. I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.”
All well and good but I have heard this before: Behold,
I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as
their foreheads. Like emery harder than
flint have I made your forehead. Fear
them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. My head won’t break. What about my heart?
I probably don’t understand it any better this time than I
did last time. I thought it would be
really cool to be out there on the cutting edge. I thought if someone would speak God’s word
to people those hearing would get the message and get excited, that they’d be
happy to respond positively. I was, in
other words, young and foolish. People
do not like the truth. They prefer, as
Micah pointed out, a prophet who preaches plenty of wine and beer. Not that there’s anything wrong with
that.
There is no question that the world has long been inundated
with worthless words, and despite all the Christian broadcasting that goes on,
there is a famine of words that are noble and worthwhile. Like gold, the truth is precious by its
rarity as well as by its power.
So what do I do with my bitterness? Perhaps there is a purpose even for
that. God said of the Passover Lamb
which prefigures Christ: They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted
on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. You can’t live on it, but it can make a
good condiment.
9 comments:
Maybe this passage from the book of Dylan might help.
And when the bottom fell out I became withdrawn, the only thing I knew how to do was to keep on keeping on.
I tried listening to Christian broadcasting. It just wasn't for me. However, I look forward to your lessons.
Just keep on emitting, like a radioactive isotope. One of your gamma particles will hit another soul and it will raise his or her state and then they will emit a particle which will hit another
and then you got a chain reaction going on.
Yep, what John said™
I suspect there will be much bitterness in the coming years, not to mention all the wailing and gnashing of teeth. I'd give you a hug, if I could.
Ah, well. Que sera, sera, Amigo. There is bitterness, but I've heard it said that on that father shore we'll find our fill of sweetness. God willing, one day we'll find out in person. God willing, those we care about will do the same.
Seems to me there's something said in the Book about bitterness becoming honey, and vice versa, upon the eating thereof. Nothing is ever as it seems, so I'm taking your bitterness as how things should be, for now, in light of the big picture.
Thank you all. That is wisdom.
"Amos is famous for saying he was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet but merely a fig-picker from Tekoa. I always thought that sounded about right."
Was't Amos also famous for chocolate chip cookies (Famous Amos)?
Jest sayin'. :^)
Sometimes, instead of pickin' figs you gotta bake chocolate chip cookies.
And not just average cookies, but really good cookies...with tasty chocolate chips...semi-bitter but, true, but complimenting the cookie in a perfectly balanced bouquet of chocolately goodness 'tween sweet n' semi-bitter.
But can you have cookies with grog?
I might be misunderstanding your post, but I wouldn't part with this place and what you do here, Mush. So many times you present a piece of scripture and it's like I've never read it before. I must have fallen asleep to it.
And what if I share with another the thoughts that were brought together in the light here and then they to another who is finally waked by it. Or somewhere way down the road. It will mean everything to them. But you'll never know. If it's Truth, and as such, eternal, you have to maintain that it WILL penetrate and continue. Look at the good work Tomberg is STILL doing.
Well said, Rick! I wholeheartedly cooncur!b Kerep on keepin' on, Mushroom!
You are an inspiration to us all!
Seriously man, you have an important callin'. :^)
I've just seen it happen, is all.
There was a guy that helped my son about a year ago. It was probably nothing to the guy. But there he was where I wished I could be. I wish I could tell him but I only know of him from my son. His name was William, and he was gone as quickly as he showed up, but not before he was done. So I named an angel after him in the book. Was the best thing I could think of to do.
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