Grains of Sand

Pixabay I linger in the blackness, seemingly invisible to passersby. My night is cold and lonely, devoid of the warmth of human touch. There is only God, and though He speaks, I do not hear from Him what I desperately want to hear. He begs me to trust His will, but that will lies heavily upon me, like a shroud. His will is solitary. His will is hard. He bids me be patient, but the fruitless, empty, years pass me by, heaping their rewards on others. Shared laughter mocks me, as groups of two, three, and four, walk by. Their eyes seem to meet mine but then slide past unseeing. I follow them, heading toward the open doors ahead that they are passing through. I long to cry out after them: “Look at me. See me. Hear me.” I don’t. They are busy with better, more productive, things. I bless the Lord for all their successes even as I envy them those blessings. Like a swift running current, they flow past my stagnant pool. It seems pointless to call out to them. Even if they saw and heard, ...

Google Images So far, the gifts to give to the Lord in honour of His birthday are: a return to my first love, faithfulness in spite of difficulties and purity. But there is one more gift from Revelation 2. This time it comes in God’s message to John for the church in Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-29). Heresy was a huge problem back in the early days of the church and Thyatira was not exempt. The message from the Lord to the church specifically mentioned a prophetess by the name of Jezebel who was leading people astray through her teachings. The church in Thyatira remained strong and the Lord commended her for it: “ I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that now you are doing more than you did at first ” (Revelation 2:19). But in the next breath, John drags out the accusation. The church remained strong for the most part, but was tolerating Jezebel’s presence and teaching (2:20). The Lord issues a warning about what is going to happen to both the so-...

Google Images The second gift of Christmas is sandwiched between two statements that seem, at first glance, to have little to do with anything good. John copied down the message that God had given him for the church in Smyrna. This church was located in what is modern day Turkey in what was a strategic port city and trading centre. The message begins with a reference to the death and resurrection of Christ, not particularly ominous until we read the last part of the message which says: “ He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death ” (Revelation 2:11b). The “bread” in this “sandwich” leaves us with the feeling that the “meat” might not be something that will tickle our taste buds. And we’d be right about that. God’s message to Smyrna was “ Be faithful, even to the point of death ” (2:10). The believers in this city were going to have their faith severely tested. They were going to be persecuted; some were going to die. The assurance at the beginning of the message, ...