Some things must be eclipsed to reveal others

Rare things can only appear at rare times and in rare places

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Why can’t I see the clouds in my life as this beautiful?

Why can't I see the clouds in my life as this beautiful?

 

Thank God for His miracle mercy to we, the children He loves

Oh, thank God—he’s so good! His love never runs out.
All of you set free by God, tell the world!
Tell how he freed you from oppression,
Then rounded you up from all over the place,
from the four winds, from the seven seas.

Some of you wandered for years in the desert,
looking but not finding a good place to live,
Half-starved and parched with thirst,
staggering and stumbling, on the brink of exhaustion.
Then, in your desperate condition, you called out to God.
He got you out in the nick of time;
He put your feet on a wonderful road
that took you straight to a good place to live.
So thank God for his marvelous love,
for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.
He poured great draughts of water down parched throats;
the starved and hungry got plenty to eat.

Some of you were locked in a dark cell,
cruelly confined behind bars,
Punished for defying God’s Word,
for turning your back on the High God’s counsel—
A hard sentence, and your hearts so heavy,
and not a soul in sight to help.
Then you called out to God in your desperate condition;
he got you out in the nick of time.
He led you out of your dark, dark cell,
broke open the jail and led you out.
So thank God for his marvelous love,
for his miracle mercy to the children he loves;
He shattered the heavy jailhouse doors,
he snapped the prison bars like matchsticks!

Some of you were sick because you’d lived a bad life,
your bodies feeling the effects of your sin;
You couldn’t stand the sight of food,
so miserable you thought you’d be better off dead.
Then you called out to God in your desperate condition;
he got you out in the nick of time.
He spoke the word that healed you,
that pulled you back from the brink of death.
So thank God for his marvelous love,
for his miracle mercy to the children he loves;
Offer thanksgiving sacrifices,
tell the world what he’s done—sing it out!

Some of you set sail in big ships;
you put to sea to do business in faraway ports.
Out at sea you saw God in action,
saw his breathtaking ways with the ocean:
With a word he called up the wind—
an ocean storm, towering waves!
You shot high in the sky, then the bottom dropped out;
your hearts were stuck in your throats.
You were spun like a top, you reeled like a drunk,
you didn’t know which end was up.
Then you called out to God in your desperate condition;
he got you out in the nick of time.
He quieted the wind down to a whisper,
put a muzzle on all the big waves.
And you were so glad when the storm died down,
and he led you safely back to harbor.
So thank God for his marvelous love,
for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.
Lift high your praises when the people assemble,
shout Hallelujah when the elders meet!

God turned rivers into wasteland,
springs of water into sunbaked mud;
Luscious orchards became alkali flats
because of the evil of the people who lived there.
Then he changed wasteland into fresh pools of water,
arid earth into springs of water,
Brought in the hungry and settled them there;
they moved in—what a great place to live!
They sowed the fields, they planted vineyards,
they reaped a bountiful harvest.
He blessed them and they prospered greatly;
their herds of cattle never decreased.
But abuse and evil and trouble declined
as he heaped scorn on princes and sent them away.
He gave the poor a safe place to live,
treated their clans like well-cared-for sheep.

Good people see this and are glad;
bad people are speechless, stopped in their tracks.
If you are really wise, you’ll think this over—
it’s time you appreciated God

Psalm 107

How low is your spiritual battery?

Are you noticing an absense of "life"?

I tried using my iPod today, and couldn’t get anything out of it. It wouldn’t work — not even the screen would come on. Now, this has happened to me before, so I knew what to do. It’s not that it no longer operates — its just that the last time I used it I wore down all the battery power without realizing it. The simple solution — which I’m employing now — is to plug it into its power source and leave it alone (let it be still) until it is restored to its original grade of usefulness.

This is also the case for our spirits. They are our life-batteries that must be regularly powered up and kept in good working order. If you looked at your spirit at this moment, would you be able to discern whether your God-capacity — otherwise known as being spiritually on-charge — is full, low or essentially empty?

If you are like me, you may have no idea because you have been so busy and you have learned to rely on other things instead. My low-battery consciousness was dull regarding my iPod because I have gotten used to relying on the music and video streaming capabilities of other things. This worked fine for a while, that is, until the day that I needed it again. I wanted to check my contacts for a friend’s number, and had to wait till it was sufficiently charged. In this case the wait was too long.

One day, you may find yourself in that place. Your personal charge is insufficient, and there isn’t time to bring it up to serve you for the case that it is needed. Either you will face the end of your life here and have no life of your own with which to claim access to heaven, or you will face tragedy that doesn’t wait until you are firmly established in what you believe before it shakes you to your core.

I pray that when each of these days comes for you — as they surely will — that you will not be empty and ashamed. I would hope that you would be strong and healthy on the inside for whatever you face on the outside. Surely the time you have before you has been given that you might learn to diligently charge up and maintain this spirit which is your only access to Life and Love.