On Wednesday nights I have Bible study at church. Right now we’re going through Beth Moore’s “Here and Now, There and Then” study on Revelation, which – surprisingly – I’m loving. Confession – the book of Revelation, in the past, has scared me. I have never read it the whole way through, and to be honest, if it wasn’t a Beth Moore study (how can you say no to her?) I probably wouldn’t be reading it right now. There is just something so – um – final about it all. I know. End times. Sorta has to be that way. But it’s more than a little disturbing, especially since we can’t/won’t know when it will happen, exactly how it will happen, and what our role will be in it all. But for a Beth Moore study, I’ll stick with it, because I connect with her teaching, feel challenged by what we study, and am always blessed in the end. Plus, in my mind, Beth and I are on a first name basis and totes besties.
Yep. Said it. Moving on.
As we were watching the DVD for session five this past week (where we met the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse. And got to see Beth in the cutest red ruffly shirt ever.), I had a very interesting thought cross my mind. “That would blog.”
You see, I’ve made a handful of comments in the past that have garnered the fabulous “That’ll preach!” reaction, but it’s only recently that I’ve begun looking not for preaching opportunities, but blogging opportunities. Is it the same? To be honest, I’m much more likely to blog than to preach. Maybe it’s all just a natural transition to how the gospel will be spread throughout the world (Mark 13:10)? Only God knows the details of that. Here’s what I know.
I know that when Beth Moore looked at the screen and said (paraphrased) “It matters – it matters how we live in the dark” that I knew I needed to look at myself. Am I foolish enough to think that I can ever hide anything from Him? That I can be one person on Sundays but another person throughout the week? It matters what we do in the dark. It matters what I think – even when I don’t speak the words. What my heart loves matters – because if I’m not craving God, then I’m putting something else above Him. And when we’re studying the end of the world and what God will do to redeem His people…you better believe what we do here on earth matters. Even in the dark.
Even so, why do I think that He sometimes doesn’t know what I’m going through, what my heart desires so desperately? In my humanness, the dark that I see is frustrating, difficult, and a set back. It’s blinding. God isn’t hindered by darkness, there is nothing we can hide from Him because He. Is. Light. How can I think He doesn’t know what my heart wants? Psalm 139:11-12 says “Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I am immersed in the light! It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.” (MSG).
Praise you, Father. What hope. His plans for me are good. They are light. And I could use a little of that.
I would be honored to pray for you today, if you’d like to let me know what’s on your heart.
