THREE HOMOPHONES WHICH LEAD US HOME

THREE HOMOPHONES WHICH LEAD US HOME            by Frances K. Van Mil

 Behold, a King will reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule with justice.

And each one of them shall be like a hiding place from the wind and a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place,

like the shade of a great rock in a weary land (to those who turn to them.   Isaiah 32:1-2  (Amp).

I would really like to be living this truth in my life:  to allow Jesus my King to reign in my life, to rein and bridle my actions as He sees fit, and then to have the resulting rain of blessing, creativity and favour on my gifts and talents, so that I, too, will be a shelter and comfort to others in their times of need. 

Reigning, reining, and raining!  These make up a three-legged stool, all of which must be in balance for joyful living.  There is an order, though – God’s order, which, hard as it sometimes is, is the only path which will get us there.

I have recently been in a storm of disorder, rebellion, confusion, doubt and darkness, while still trying to use my talents for the Lord, and have direction, order, joy, fulfillment and peace in my life.  I knew I was called as a minister of the Lord to work and witness for Him, and often felt touches of inspiration and power, yet nothing was ever completed.  I was in a whirlwind of stressful striving: of pursuing one talent – whether it was music, art, writing, teaching or something else – then giving up in frustration only to try another.  Being in my seventies, I was anxious about getting all that was in my heart to accomplish done before I die, yet having only bits and pieces done, and a mountain of papers and undone projects on my table, desk and computer.

 All the while, the Lord was calling my name over the huge waves, calling me to read His Word, come to Him and rest, trust Him and – obey.  The more I attempted to do this, especially to obey in laying down my life and pleasures to fast, study and pray, the more spurts of anointed inspiration I would experience, with aimed attacks of the enemy to try to stop me.  What an escalation  of drama!

All the time, He kept quietly calling me to come to Him and rest, assuring me of stillness and peace.  I found that I had been mixing up the voices: listening to an urgent, exciting voice just packed with wonderful ideas and claims to my energy and time, whereas the Bible assures us through Elijah’s experience (1 Kings 19:11-12)and in other places, that the Lord’s is NOT the loud, dramatic one, but the still. small one of peace. 

Surrender has been my only answer.  As I struggle daily to surrender to His will, knowing deep within what He requires, I find more and more answers, order and peace taking over.  For example, I may resent the time and even eyesight needed to spend my prime, highest-energy hours in His presence, when I want to “get at” something for service to Him.  However, when I bend to His will on this, He is more than faithful to make up that time later in my household tasks or creative work.  As in marriage, sometimes we lay down our own strong desires to do some activity we dislike for the other person: a musical wife might rather practice piano instead of threading squishy, writhing worms on a hook, but that evening sacrificed in love pays off in a deepened relationship.  So with the Lord.   Perhaps I do not fully understand the significance of what I know He is asking me to do – say, praying for Israel or an unreached tribe – but I choose to obey, rather than work on something else.

And He honours every feeble effort to let Him reign, rein….and, ultimately, rain!