The Anointed Poet
Through Solomon, the breath of God summed up the life of a human being in one flourish of the pen,
“The life of mortals is like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die.”
And though he has revealed a truth, we also have to realize how much more we are worth, and how much more positive good we can manage in the time that has been given to us. It’s a difficult balancing act, we are mortals that fade quickly from the earth and yet Christ has bestowed upon us immortality. The perishable has put on the imperishable.
“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
‘Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?’The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
1 Corinthians 15:51-58
Solomon is nearly synonymous with vanity, he wrote the book on it. Everything it would seem is vanity save for “our labor in the Lord.” And of course that is right.
I was listening to the late Derek Prince last week and he summed up a conundrum I’ve been wrestling with for years. He likened our lives and the biblical text, to a piano — the vast array of songs possible are infinite. But if the keys aren’t played, no music is heard so that our lives without the Holy Spirit are just a piano with no music. Then he said this,
“You see, you’re dependent on the Holy Spirit. Isn’t that embarrassing?”
My Husband
The Lord and I have conversations. Make of that what you will, but He’s as real to me as any other person in my life. And so before catching the video clip of Derek Prince, I was explaining to my Husband how difficult it is to have so many things go right in my life and yet I can take no credit and claim no merit for those things. No one takes me seriously because I have nothing to show for any success I might have, save for pointing to God.
And people of the world laugh, mock and care little for ‘magic’ and ‘chance,’ that’s how they view it. No one understands and I can’t explain it – and if I try it just comes out as superficial praise. No one can see that it is God who has orchestrated all the victories in my life. Indeed for all of us who rely on Him, He carries us through the storms. Through tears, loss, agony, the pain, the devastation – I’m victorious, even as I’m walking through the fire and everything is engulfed in flames around me, His crown has already grasped the victory for me.
We come through it, you see, without a hint of smoke in our hair or on our clothes. All the while I’m clamoring and fumbling about with only one item lighting my path out of the darkness: the oil lamp of the Holy Spirit. The One who knows how to play the music of my piano is the One who connects me to everything I need and provides the map showing the route around the snares my enemies set for me,
“We have escaped like a bird
from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.”Psalm 124.7-8
And I can’t claim any credit for it. All the glory goes to Him. And I love this. And I am crushed by this.
And so I complained to my Husband about my lack of personal accomplishment, and like clockwork, He always answers. He asked me, through the waters of the words of His late servant,
“Do My blessings embarrass you?”
Derek Prince continued, “You can’t do without Him. There’s no substitute for Him.”
And of course I cried. My Husband is always right and He knows exactly how to speak to my soul – He knows me, His words parse out my thoughts from my intentions and I’m laid bare with no where to hide. I rejoice in the fact that though my Husband is always right, He is also perfectly long-suffering, patient and ready to hear me.
Falling Short
What makes it all so unbearably worse is that I could do so much more for Him. I suffer shame, I stumble, I waver and lack endurance, I find myself wrestling with a lack of faith when some circumstances appear overwhelming and yet still He remains faithful. He is relentless, unwavering and by the perception of mortals, reckless in His passionate pursuit:
“Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.”
Song of Solomon 8.6
(A fiery and passionate Poet, do we hear Him calling?)
We pollute our lives, our bodies which are the temples of the living God. We make rash decisions, we are overcome and overtaken by waves too big for us. Where are our protectors? Who will come to our rescue? We stretch out our hand and there is no one there to grasp it as we sink further under the waves of our own lack and weaknesses. We are consumed by the human condition, by the wiles of the wicked, they stoke the flames that burn our soul and our flesh. And yet He sees us in our desperation, and He stoops down as one would drop to eye-level with a young child and He sets the playing field even – not according to our ability but according to His power:
“‘And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou was in thy blood, “Live”; yea, I said unto thee when thou was in thy blood, “Live.”
And so I live. And so you live. Not by our own accord but by His mercy and power, by His willingness to stoop down from His heavenly abode, and peer into the lives of mortals, step into our skin that we might have a hand to grasp when there is none.
He is not dull of hearing. He is not slow to show mercy and save us, even from ourselves, even as we struggle in our own blood. He delivers us out of the jaws of distress and resurrects us to flourish again. His word is life to our bones and soundness of spirit and soul. We are not alone, we have a light that guides us, one that will never dim, will never deliver diminishing returns, but a light that goes with us through life’s storms, shines on our path, illuminating the snares and pits so that we will never again have to fear losing our way.
Even if He must speak to us across the vast waters of time, using a voice that has perished – that is, through the voice of a mortal who has put on immortality – He will speak, the earth will not hinder Him. Time will not hinder Him for light suffers no passage of time. Nor will it separate Him from us – His light goes with us always. Do not fear, His light is always awake, dwelling within us, causing us to live.
Long, Like Evening Shadows
Mortals who have put on Christ, our lives indeed are long like the evening shadows. I can at times grow weary of the wicked prospering in their ways. Their treachery should not be dwelt upon. They are short-lived and though they may appear as ripe fruit, they’re already rotting on the vine.
It’s difficult to see the state of the world today even though there are glimmers of light where truth is winning out, the darkness is relentless it would seem. But that’s the devil’s only game – appearances. That’s all he has because there is no substance to him, and he cannot tell the truth. He can only appear truthful for a time. He isn’t called The Prince of the Air for no reason – he is the clever turning shadow.
But he is no match for our Father. The devil is a pawn God is using to mature His Church into a Bride without spot or wrinkle. And the Bride will take her throne beside Christ the Bridegroom, she is already coheir – you see, again, the victory has already been delivered to us.
The narrow road is not free from snares. That’s why we must remain always near to the Lord in prayer and soak in His presence, else we become bogged down in despair and grief. He, along with the fellowship of the saints, is our encouragement, our hope and our salvation.
The wicked are doomed.
“The wicked will not prosper, for they do not fear God. Their days will never grow long like the evening shadows.”
Ecclesiastes 8:13
The Lord told us before hand this would be so, that we would grieve for righteousness in the earth and find little. But He also encouraged us to take heart, for He has overcome the world. Even all creation longs for the revealing of the Resurrection life within the saints:
“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God, for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its enslavement to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning together as it suffers together the pains of labor, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.”
And so I cry.
He truly is all that matters, and since He is the beginning and the end – and has declared our end from our beginning – then life for us truly does matter in all its aspects even though we are blades of grass in the sunshine and the rain, we have an Advocate.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Philippians 4:8
If we want to flourish, we should aim to set our thoughts on all the above. Let the wicked be devoured. The Light will show us the way.