Awakened
Pro 27:14 He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.
They really didn’t mean to push my button like that. It was just that there is something so very wrong about being taken from the depths of repose and being made to deal with loud noises and activity meant only for that other world of ‘awakedness’. Even though their intentions might have been just, righteous, and without blame, and even though I really love them with all my heart, there was a line they crossed when they forced me from my dream world. Even this verse from Proverbs makes my case and liberates me from any condemnation for the way I let them know just how wrong they were. They deserved everything I gave them and it was really their responsibility to resolve any issues between us. In a way they, for the moment, became an enemy to me the moment they invaded my rest.
We have this awesome privilege of hanging out with the Ruler of the Universe. We get to love Him and serve Him in every moment of every day, awake or asleep. To actually live with someone, though, there are going to be moments when what otherwise might be considered a blessing, becomes a curse in our perspective. As soon as there is an imposition upon the part of us that is “our own”, we are going to see even blessings as cursings. Unless everything fits into our convenient and accustomed routine, there is going to be a “legitimate” reason to retaliate. I believe this can happen even with God, when that comfortable place we’ve settled into is violated by the earth shattering sound of God calling us out of our sleep. The very blessing He summons us to, that will ultimately have our very best, is made to appear as a curse because of its imposition upon our ‘coziness’.
Of course it would make no logical sense to make God into some kind of an enemy. And yet it is a very part of our human nature- to feel like we have the right and license to hold Him responsible for things that would appear so much differently if we had only gotten up a little earlier, not letting His presence or blessing ever take on the image of an opposing enemy. While we will always have our ‘natural’ human nature, really embracing the blessing that is ours in Christ will require taking on His completely different nature that finds reason to bless in any situation that might possibly be ‘awakening’. In Christ there is removal of that sleepy time from the category of times when our natural reactions are legitimized. In fact, He removes that category altogether. In Him we will become “blessers of enemies” and thus be liberated from the realm of oppression and strife.
When that time does come, though, as we are given a chance to embrace the One who is calling us out of sleep, this embracing reaction will have to be a practiced one. Until there is a response of love to anyone that might imposition us, until there is a heart felt and expressed blessing on our lips for anyone that might appear to oppose our way of life, our immediate reaction will be that old ‘natural’ way and not the new way in Christ. By just trying to learn love’s reaction in our relationship with God we will be most frustrated, because He has called us into a relationship that is enhanced and developed as it is learned through loving all those that might be right next to us. In practicing our love embrace with them, we are enabled to make the right choice naturally to hold Him ever closer, even when it might appear that He has cursed us. Our response of blessing to any perceived enemy will be a rehearsal for the time when it is so necessary in our relationship with the Father.
He wants so much to bless. In learning the blessing response ourselves we are enabled to receive His blessing as it truly is, and not through the bleary eyed and offended misperception of the sleep deprived.
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
