“And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”
Isaiah 40:5

 

Part II: WHAT DOES GOD DO?

 

 Truth: When you reject false perspectives of God, you are free to believe two things: God is who He says He is, and God will do, what He says He will do.

At this point, everything is leveled, and smoking. You have no past, only freedom to do what you were created to do: Build the road to God. Point to Him, and say “That’s why I’m building, so you can come too.”

The only thing you have is a shovel. It’s called Faith. It doesn’t belong to you, you’ve borrowed it from God. 

He shows you a towering mountain. “Dig here” He says.

Your shovel will probably break. But, regardless of the voices screaming that this is a stupid idea, you square your back, strike the earth with your shovel, and turn over one, little pat of mud. 

The mountain begins to shake.

You start running as fast as you can.
Behind you, the mountain erupts in a roar of flame, and billows of smoke.

 

God shows you a valley and says “Level it.” You throw your first shovelful of earth into it – and start running again, because the floor of the valley is plunging upwards like a geyser.

Then you see it; the mountain range, rising like a colossal wall in front of you.
God says “Lift it.”
Licking your lips, you stuff your little shovel as far as it will go underneath the foot of the closest mountain, and push upwards.
Then God tears the mountain range apart.

What you now begin to understand, is that it was never your responsibility to fill that valley; you only had to throw in the first shovelful to start God’s avalanche.
You never had to level the mountain in the first place. You only had to dig the hole to prepare the way for God’s dynamite.

 So. Why? Why all this display? What’s the point of building such a huge causeway?

 

                1. Because He’s Worth it.

 “….And the Glory of the LORD Shall Be revealed….”

See, God is so big – everything has to be leveled, so He can be revealed, or, shown.

He’s like the biggest mountain range ever, hidden behind countless hills and lesser mountains. The more the obstacles are removed – the more of Him people can see; the more they’ll want to go closer, and find out who He is.

 This is liberating, and brings us to a whole new realization: Life isn’t about us.

To praise means to ‘turn the spotlight on the object” Everything we were created to do, is geared towards exposing God’s greatness. Not shouting “Look at Me!” But “Look at Him!”

 And why is it so important that we spend our entire existence revealing Him?

             2. Because We Build the Path for Others

 “….And all flesh shall see it together”

  People will wonder about your changed landscape. That mountain of pride they never thought would budge, that suddenly disappeared; they’ll want to know how you got rid of it.

That valley you used to be in, that has mysteriously vanished, leaving you on the surface, and unaccountably free; what did you do with it? They become opportunities to proclaim God’s unparallelled power. So tell them what He’s done, because He is worth, finding.

If they laugh at you, and walk away…remember, the mountain is still, gone. It still testifies to the power of God. They have to stare at the flattened plain where it used to be every day, and wonder what kind of a God can do that. 

And if they do take you seriously, they’ll ask about this strange, powerful God.

 

Truth:The more shovelfuls of faith we dig, the more mountains, valleys, crooked, and rough places will be moved, and smoothed and straightened; producing more testaments of His might, and power, and love. (Matt 5:16) 

God controls the outcome – you only dig the dirt.

It’s His job. If He says He’s going to do something, it’s happening. End of story.

 It’s God. He’s done it for us. He’ll do it for others.

 

So…. How do we start?

 

                Begin the Journey.

All this cool stuff is possible, but how much of it is actually happening?. Christians seem more powerless and lacking in light than ever before.

 The awe factor of God is missing in our lives.

 Why?

Because when we read that He does all these things, they’re good words, and they’re true in some way or other, but to us personally, they’re often just nice sayings.

We miss out on the power, freedom, and purposes of God because we act on His words as much as we’d act on a fairy tale. We continue going after what we want or think we need to make us happy; but we are focusing on the wrong thing. 

Truth: Life isn’t about us. It’s about shouting out Who He is.

 

 And faith, is standing firm on this truth: If His mouth speaks it, it is truth, and we must believe it.

When He says He will level every obstacle that keeps us from Him, He means it for me, and He means it for you, and we must accept it and trust Him to do it!

 

This month, I challenge you to focus on three things:

1. Prepare – repent, turn your face to the way of God.
2. Pursue – Take that step of faith, and believe what He says.
3. Proclaim – let your life and words live for His glory.

So what’s keeping you?

Give it up.

Take His hand, grab your shovel, and let the adventure, begin.

~ Emily Oliverio