Tag: Sin

Elegant Invader

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Last week my daughter and I were talking about her cancer. She told me that one of her friends had called it the elegant invader. This resonated with me and I told her I knew that I would blog about that.

The definition of elegant is of a high grade or quality. Usually when we see someone who is elegant we are taken aback. We watch them to see how they move, which is usually dignified and effortlessly.

To invade elegantly, means, (to me) to come in by force with a quiet calm. Taking something by force with little to no notice of what is happening.

Cancer is vile. It comes in to rob and steal and maim. It is a thief. It overshadows. It tries to hide itself while it grows and takes over, until it is revealed and exposed.

Cancer touches most families. It is a rare family that isn’t exposed to it’s harshness.

In the same way, sin carries the same qualities of a cancer. It too, can permeate every crevice in our being. It grows in darkness and overtakes and spreads silently. It too is an elegant invader.

“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.” I John 1:55 (NLT)

As evil (both disease and sin) loves darkness, so our God is light and in Him we have life.

I know that my Lord is going to touch my daughter’s body with His grace and healing. This is a season of victory for her, but as with all victory, there is a battle to be waged first. She is prepared for battle, strong in her faith in facing this elegant invader of her body.

Likewise, I turn to God for my spiritual battle, as we are all sin factories.

Ezekiel 16:60-63

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Today in my quiet time, I read the 16th chapter of Ezekiel. As I have been reading the Old Testament prophets, I have thought of our country.

246 years ago our country declared it’s Independence. We stood strong and held closely to our beliefs. We wanted freedom of religion. We wanted to be able to worship our Lord without the dictates of how we should do that. We wanted freedom from taxation without representation. We wanted to be a sovereign country of our own.

There were many other reasons, and I cannot list them all as I am afraid I would not correctly list them. But, this I do know, our country was founded on God. Our forefathers depended upon Him. Their writings reflected Him. God was an integral part of the birth of this nation. The men who signed the Declaration of Independence did so knowing that their lives were on the line. Signing this document, could have meant signing their death warrants. The battle that followed also put men in direct path of death. They fought for what they believed in and held as truth in their hearts.

Now, 246 years later it is my belief that this country is like a petulant toddler. Generations have passed since the founding fathers put their life on the line. Our young country has grown, it has become powerful and yet our dependence on God has grown cold.

People often quote II Chronicles 7:14, “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (NLT) when they request prayer for our country. This is an excellent quote, but too often the phrase “and turn from their wicked ways” is not part of the prayer.

Our country is young. When children are young, they act out. Sometimes, toddlers are outright bad, hence the term ‘terrible twos’ or my favorite, ‘torturous threes’. Personally, I think our country needs more than a ‘time-out’, we need to receive direction and be accountable for our actions.

The sixteenth chapter of Ezekiel talks about the sin of Jerusalem. They had played the harlot and God was not pleased. He was angry. As I read the chapter I could see a similarity to our country. I prayed for our country for a return to God. To see a revival in this country.

The last part of the 16th chapter talks of God’s covenant with His people. His forgiveness. The shame of His people. “Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were young, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. 61 Then you will remember with shame all the evil you have done. I will make your sisters, Samaria and Sodom, to be your daughters, even though they are not part of our covenant. 62 And I will reaffirm my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord. 63 You will remember your sins and cover your mouth in silent shame when I forgive you of all that you have done. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”

May we, this long weekend leading up to the celebration of our country turn to God and away from the shame of our sins.

Yes, this is different from what I normally post, but, this is close to my heart. I love my country with an unending love. I am a proud American. I long for the day to come when, once more, we live by what our Founding Fathers lived by.