Ensign: Tougher Than The Rest

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3


AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS                       10 March 2017



Sunday night the second half of the sixth season of the television series Once Upon A Time began. I've used a few other episodes of this show based on how fairy tale characters like Snow White and Rumpelstiltskin (there are many regulars, I'm trying to pick some who've been with the show since the beginning) live and interact in "our" world to make Scriptural points before. With some people it may not sit so well, any more than the devotions I'm written that started with a Star Wars or Star Trek reference. But like Jesus' parables, they start with something that we deal with or have experienced in our daily lives and from there become the embodiment of spiritual truth.



Do I believe that there's some other world where I'm living a better life? Why yes, I don't mind believing that at all.


So says Robin Hood, who within the continuity of the series is already dead. Two of the main characters meet a version of him who instead of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor simply does the first part. It's implied that this Robin never met Marian who in the series moved him to aspire to something better than he was, to being a hero. I heard that and I heard Paul's admonition to himself in his letter to the church at Rome in Romans 7:13-25, particularly verse 19: "For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do."


I can't let fate dictate my actions anymore.


So says Emma Swan, who as the "Savior" became the hero by lifting a curse upon a town full of fairy tale characters -- including Prince Charming and Snow White, her own parents -- and finds that being a hero is not all it's cracked up to be. Gradually she comes to realize and is still realizing that nobody is fated or destined or prophesied to every little detail of their lives. Yes, before the prophet Jeremiah was formed in his mother's womb the LORD knew, sanctified, and ordained him to do a specific task, but it wasn't mapped out blow by blow from Jeremiah's perspective, to paraphrase 1:5. Nor is ours.


I knew you didn't belong on the streets; I had to make sure you did too.


So says Pinocchio, who met Emma in Minneapolis in 1990 when she was living on the streets at eight or so and directed her to a local shelter. All of us have times in our lives when we feel lost, not just that until we have Jesus as our Savior and Lord that spiritually we are lost. We feel like we're missing something and our aim is nowhere near improving. With Paul in Romans 7:24 we could easily say, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Hm. Truth be known, many people don't even get to asking the question, they just wallow.


Verse 25. "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." So yes, even with Jesus as YOUR Savior -- make no mistake, He can't be passed on though anyone else and you don't get saved through the birth canal either -- you're able to serve God but there are times you will fail and I do fail. Miserably. Even in "little" things that are not little to God, and they can't be to us either. For it's the little things in everything, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards (Song of Solomon 2:15), that ruin us.




You and I don't have to wait for another world to live a better life OR let fate dictate our actions OR stay on the streets. But we have to make one big admission; we cannot make a change in our lives by ourselves. We don't get "tougher than the rest" without getting blows the LORD allows (see Job) to make us so. We can have doubts, we can have some great doubts, but that's ok. We are the ones who make the choice whether or not to deny the presence of God in our lives, every second of every minute of every day. But whatever we do, what will we do as a result?


That's at the end of every parable,


David


P.S. I will continue as long as God allows me to write this devotional to keep in touch with you, and I hope it encourages us too! If it's not or you would like me to get lost, please let me know. Thank you!


Thank YOU, Lord, that we can come to You in prayer and that we can count on You to provide for all our needs according to Your riches in glory, even when we don't know what our needs are. And we come to You in prayer for the peace in Jerusalem on both sides of the fence and all over the world.

Thank You as well, Lord, for everyone in leadership and serve, in authority and power, both here and abroad. Thank You for the opportunities we have and the promise of new life through You by Your Son Our Brother, Jesus the Christ.


And now I pray that we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.