With Him

"O Lord, You know;

remember me and visit me,

and take vengeance for me on my persecutors.

In Your forbearance take me not away;

know that for Your sake I bear reproach.

Your words were found, and I ate them,

and Your words became to me a joy

and the delight of my heart,

for I am called by Your name,

O Lord, God of hosts.

I did not sit in the company of revelers,

nor did I rejoice;

I sat alone, because Your hand was upon me,

for You had filled me with indignation.

Why is my pain unceasing,

my wound incurable,

refusing to be healed?

Will you be to me like a deceitful brook,

like waters that fail?"

Jeremiah 15:15-18

If we will choose to walk with Him, the way will be hard.  Jesus has always been offensive to the current religious dynasty.  But one taste of those Words--oh the sweetness and fullness!  We cannot help but speak them.  

The prophets always look crazy.  They leave the rock of the age and start walking around where there is no ground to stand--or so it seems.  But truly, the warped glasses have been plucked off and they can see things as they really are.  The rock of the age was always quicksand.  The mist beyond the cliff was always Jesus, the Rock of Ages.  And He is more solid than anything else.  

Oh Church, will you redeem the time in this evil day?  Will you drop your fishnets and follow, and don't go back to collect what He asks you to leave behind?  Awake sleeper!  Let Jesus come and shine and expose!  

The front lines of the battle are always hard.  Always dangerous.  If I approach the noise of the battlefield, I might not hear my Captain's orders correctly.  But if I seek refuge in the stale cities of comfort, I will not hear His orders at all.