I wrote back on August 7th about idols - my concern that I not be self-deceived into thinking I am "above" worshiping falsely just because my idols are not visible.
Every day, here, we face graven images first hand. It is so in-your-face, but I'm still a little startled each time. There is one on a building across the street from where we are staying that just exudes evil. I know that sounds weird, but I pray against it every time I notice it.
Today we hiked Wat Tham Sua. One of the verses God had given me before we left was Zechariah 4:17 "What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of 'Grace, grace to it!' " Of course, at the time, I felt it was YHWH's confirmation to us that He would remove obstacles from our path by His power (one meaning of the word "grace"), but you had better believe I spoke "grace" to that mountain as I climbed all promised 1,237 steps (Lisa says it's more like 1250-something). It was especially empowering against certain stairs that were practically knee high!
At the top it's impossible not to be awed and saddened by the magnitude of these creations they have erected to a non-living god - especially when one of the Buddha's final commands ordered them NOT to build idols to him, but to seek the "ever-living" God. I use a capital "g" because I know the deity of whom he spoke even if he was never sure. ;)
Doc referenced Elijah's "battle" with prophets of Baal - when he teased them, "Shout louder. Perhaps your god is sleeping or relieving himself . . ." (1 Kings 18:16-39). The heart-breaking difference is that those worshippers of Baal had known Jehovah. The Thai people have no concept of a Lord who loves them. They only know silent gods or, worse, demons who torment them and keep them from the rest that might give them relief to hear truth.
On the streets there is a sarcasm and a desperation - survival emotions bred of a belief in karma - and as the sun goes down the darkness is palpable. Hatred, lust and apathy leer at me from behind broken eyes. I wish I could reach inside, pull out the Spirit that I have and hand it to them.
And the thing is, friends. I think the Lord is less grieved by their idolatry than by ours. In the West, we do not carve images and seek their favor, or place them on our mountain tops, but we fashion objects in our hearts. We look to each other to make us "happy." We resent one another and abandon promises when we are not satisfied. We even worship God in idolatry sometimes. Just like the Thais with their gods, we seek Him only for His favor or for protection from the things we don't want to face. But do we worship Him in Spirit and in Truth? Do we lay down our lives for others the way He laid His down for us? Are we daily seeking HIM - not just our understanding of Him? Are we surrendering our agendas and comforts each day that His kingdom might come?
I sit on the beach here and cry that I am SO blessed to have been drawn at a young age to a God who loves me. That I do not have to climb a mountain to worship. That I do not have to build a spirit house to know my God is with me. Rather, He has come down the mountain to me (Oh Jesus, I am so unworthy of Your love!) Rather, His Spirit has made his HOME IN ME!!! Father, help us who know you to WAKE UP and worship you, as Jesus said, in Spirit and in Truth that Your Spirit may be free to move through us and touch lives. That through us Your fire might fall and people will cry, "The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03YxgFrDreg
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