And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.
Behold the proud,
His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:2-4, NKJV)
Write the vision.
What vision, Lord?
What you have experienced with and of Me.
When I first had this conversation with the LORD a few years back, I thought I understood what I was to do – pretty simple, right? Just chronicle my dealings with the LORD my God. I was not, however, as clear about the mechanics of actually doing it. So I would periodically write out things which were going on with me that, for me, clearly signaled the Presence of God in my life. But these remembrances stayed mostly in my heart (kind of like Mary in Luke 2:19.)
Maybe a book, I thought. Then, it seemed at every turn I would hear of someone else writing a book. Rather than take this as a confirmation that I should be obedient to what I felt my Lord was telling me to do, I tended to be self-conscious about my ability to write anything anyone would want to read.
Write the vision.
Lord, I don’t have anything to say!
I know you don’t, but I do.
Through the years, a persistent, however infrequent, topic of conversation with my Lord continued to be: Write the vision. On every hand, my God assured me that He had a plan (Jeremiah 29:11), and that His ability far outweighed my inability (Philippians 2:13.) His grace is more than sufficient to handle anything I may encounter (2 Corinthians 12:9.) Like Moses (in Exodus 2-3), all of my concerns - my fears and my whining - about doing what He said were put to rest as I resolved over and over again to be obedient. But I procrastinated.
Now I’m a little slow sometimes to catch on to some things, but when things repeatedly come up in my life, even I will tend to pay attention and think that something is there to which I might need to pay attention. God is so gracious, though; He will provide the motivation, sometimes as He warns of the possible consequences of my choices.
During my devotional time today, I was opening my Bible to go to the book of Psalms and it opened, instead, right to the book of Habakkuk. The words at chapter 2, verse 2 jumped out at me:
Write the vision...
"Okay, Lord," I said, "I'm going to." I turned to the passage in the Psalms that I had been looking for, and continued my devotional readings. Later, I was turning a group of pages to look for something in the New Testament, and found myself in Ezekiel 47. My eyes fell on verse 11:
But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt. (Ezekiel 47:11 KJV)
Okay, I just read that verse in an old Times Square Church newsletter from 2000 that I came across yesterday. (It had not even been opened when I found it.) This verse spoke to me about what may happen when you don't let the word of God make a difference in your life. I was thinking the other day about Lot’s wife, turned to a pillar salt when she disobeyed and looked back on the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Disobedience – delayed obedience is disobedience. So it doesn’t matter that I mean to get around to writing at some point; I am in disobedience now. At this point, I’m beginning to get that it’s not just even about the writing – it’s about obedience.
A couple of weeks ago, I finally had decided (again!) to be obedient, and had started writing things down as they came to me, but wasn’t sure what to do with them. The prospect of a book seemed too overwhelming, and gave me too much of a reason to stop. And, to be honest, I wasn’t sure about doing a book because I wanted my motivation to be right, my heart pure. But a dear friend of mine put it into perspective for me not too long ago, letting me know that if even one person grew in their knowledge of the LORD through my efforts (i.e. my obedience), that it would all be worth it, and would not be in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58)
Then, the other day, I saw a blog entry from David Wilkerson that I wanted to send to someone. Usually, I will copy the website address and send that in an email, but this time it was not the most recent entry, and, to save the other person time and effort, I just clicked on the icon to send this particular blog entry. After the entry was sent, a screen came up, suggesting that I could have my own blog. Admittedly, I had never even considered the possibility. The fact that the idea for a blog, and then a strong caution to be about my Father’s business (Luke 2:49) would both involve the ministry of David Wilkerson (the Times Square Church newsletter, now World Challenge, is from him) is not lost on me. I am so grateful for God’s faithfulness and patience, His tender mercy and loving kindness, His grace in making His will known, and allowing me to be a part of it.
So here I am (the whole Isaiah 6 thing.) I have created the blog, and this is the first post. Written in obedience, as a sacrifice, in faith and out of love for my precious Lord, the God of my salvation.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14, NIV)
…and my journey with Him continues…
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