December 25, 2006

      The  Fog      

The man sounded confused. I had dialed a number on my new telephone, and when the man answered, I knew he was not the person I wanted to reach.  "Oh, sorry"  I responded. "I guess I dialed the wrong number."

 

Then the man asked, "Say, what's the weather like where you are?

It's so foggy here I can't see a bless-ed thing!"

 

This did not sound like the remark of someone looking out the window of his home or place of business. This man was probably driving his car. Of course, this thought did not immediately come to mind. It came with some reflection, over time.

 

After I apologized again, said goodbye and hung up the phone, some other thoughts began to surface. "What a strange thing to say when someone has called your number by accident!" Then light shined on this stranger's words as I replayed them in my mind.

 

"Say, what's the weather like where you are? It's so foggy here I can't see a bless-ed thing!"

 

Now I could picture the man using his mobile phone, peering through his car's windshield. He had a destination and wanted to reach it safely.

 

The fog was making things difficult and dangerous for him.

 

Again I replayed his words in my mind:

 

"The fog is so thick I can't see a bless-ed thing!"

 

Many today would use a different word to describe such a frustrating situation.

A cartoonist would express it like this: x#&MN!

 

"Bless-ed" - the man spoke it in two syllables. The light in my mind grew brighter.

 

Recent conversations with a dear one came to mind. She had sought me out after years of silence. Her problems were large and still growing. She needed guidance, she needed answers and she needed them right now!

 

But there was so much "fog" in the way. She could not "see" clearly. The circumstances surrounding her daily life "fogged" the windshield. These circumstances had grown from one bad decision after another. 

But it was more complicated than this.

 

Her problems had roots in her upbringing. These problems in her "today" began in the lives of her parents and grandparents. "Oh!" Here it is again; the ancient words written upon stone tablets and given to a man named Moses for his people.

 

"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments." (Exodus 20:2-6)

 

So, to what example can we look? What kind of a man pleases God and brings blessing upon his family? In Genesis 18, verses 17 through 19 we read:

 

"The LORD said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.'"

 

To be able to "see a bless-ed thing" then, we must remove every bit of "fog" that has clouded our vision. Sin (falling short of God's glory) must be confessed and we must change our mindset, turning away from our selfishness (actually the way of satan). We must turn from all the lies we have told ourselves and each other. We must follow the Lord Jesus in water baptism. We must renew our minds with the Word of God. We must get our human relationships in right order, beginning with our immediate family. We must stop loving the world (system) and the things that are in the world.

 

The sacrifice of God's perfect Lamb, Jesus Christ, (Yeshua Ha'meshiach) is the only means Father God has provided to get us out of "The Fog." We celebrate His birthday today here in the western world.

 

He, and only He, has opened the door of our prisons.

He stands now, beckoning to us to walk across that threshold,

and into His arms.

Thank you, Father. So be it!