Isaiah 45: 2-3***
I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron. I will give you treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the Lord, who call you by your name, am the God of Israel.
A bone broken long ago, I’m not even sure when, has regenerated its own course. The body around it enabling, bending to absorb the wound and its ineffectual healing. It just kept growing. Growing crooked — “keep on keepin’ on” its motto. Unintelligible to the common eye, to my common heart with the motto: “keep on keepin’ on.”
Until now. An attempt for self-correction brought chronic pain. Undeniable, this old wound is a now wound.
Small sliver on the outside, gaping chasm in my heart, this wound. A little bit of darkness in a world of light has become a growing darkness shadowing the light I cling to.
In the still, small quiet of my orphan heart – this orphan issue, that I feel seemingly cut off from the Father’s glance –I hear the whisper of a Rescuer. You are the Healer of crooked places, the Healer of broken places. I’ve played the childish game of hide-and-seek and believed that eyes-shut-tight might keep us all in the dark. But my eyelid’s blanket was no barrier for Your eyes that penetrate bone and marrow … and flesh.
If I give invite to your already-entry, the space for healing gets even wider, the opportunity for new, unlimited.
So I say yes. You break in pieces the gates of bronze around my heart, Father. You cut the bars of iron I’ve authorized around this wound and remove the squatters. This is Your land. You reclaim, and I adore. You remove self-protection so that True correction can be activated.
And I find new space to adore You. I’ve stumbled upon what this is all about. My accident is Your intent.
Treasure is Your offering. You offer me You.
Darkness is access in Your upside down kingdom. Where the world around us speaks of riches for all to see, You whisper about the goldmine in my secret prayer room. When the keepin’-on stops. When I get alone with You. When I sit before tenderness, mercy becomes more real than my pain’s remainder mark. Your touch – just one touch from You – can bring healing to years of brokenness avoided.
What I accept as “just the way I am” because it’s too hard to go to its source and have the bone re-broken, it’s this for which You offer gold.
You ask for exchange: my hiding place for Yours.
I come broken and walk. I walk away adoring.
Thanks to You, healer of me.
**So what do I do with these posts, you ask, other than just read them? First, if you haven’t yet, read: Why I Adore to give you a context for this little space on my blog. (This post also gives context.)
If you are compelled, I invite you to participate. Set up a space and time in your own life to begin adoring. Over laundry or dinner dishes, on your commute to work, or in the wee morning hours — ten minutes is a great start. You can use the verse I list here every day or two as a launch pad for your own adoration.
Then practice praise.
Add to my adoration here, by posting a comment with your own words back to God about God …or hide it in your heart.
I promise your weary soul won’t regret it.
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Additionally, all of the Morning Chai Posts can be seen, in the order of posting, by clicking here or adding this address to your reader: EveryBitterThingisSweet.com/posts/chai
