I heard an interesting concept about being the ram in the thicket in a teaching my pastor did today
It was the story of destiny and purpose but not for Abraham, not even Isaac but for the sacrifice the Lord provided. This was the third “character” in this famous tale, the ram, and life from his point of view. As Pastor Kim said, it is certain that “he” (the ram) did not get up that morning and say “How wonderful!! I get to be sacrificed today! For someone else no less! I will be burnt on an altar, my horns will make a wonderful shofar for Master Abraham and I will be SO famous and well loved! (well, if rams could think that is) He was probably just minding his own business, going merrily along until suddenly this invisible giant hand hauls him into a thorny thicket and plunges his head into it!! He is stuck there as a part of the Lord's master plan in it's and someone else's life. If the ram had not been there, then what would have happened to the destiny of Abraham and his son of promise, Isaac? The Lord will surely provide, Abraham said in faith and trust and the Lord did provide!
So, frankly, I related to this all too well. And yes, it did answer some questions, well whining actually of WHY? God. WHEN does this (these) hard situation(s) end? And the ever famous, HOW COME the other people don’t change so that I can get out of the darn thicket!! The answer from the Lord is “because I am working on everyone involved in this situation. And, when you are done with the process of having all of your soul go thru my fire and lastly, what is it to you what and how I do things in their life? (Shades of Job and Jesus speaking to the disciples all rolled into one.) Mind your own business and focus on you and I and what I am teaching you in the midst of the thicket.
I think sometimes, relationally, we are 2 (or 3) rams in the thicket looking at each other and saying, now what the heck do we do? We struggle and fight, succeeding only in entangling ourselves more thoroughly, until we are faint from exhaustion. We yell, we rage, we cry, we try to beg or bribe our way out of “our troubles” until we have tried every trick in the book. And in the end, none of any of the myriad of things we do amounts to a hill of beans. We are NOT getting out until it is time, period. And if by some happenchance we do find a way to start wriggling out, the Lord will just redo His thicket so that you have to transform into His likeness.
We can go to a place of blame easily. If you had not led the way up this hill, if you had not………etc etc etc then we/I would not be in this mess!! It is so easy to play the blame game but does that really accomplish anything? Especially if they are just as caught in the thicket as we are?
And in all of this, there is a decision that has to be made. If life as we know it, if the thickets in our life are never removed, how are we going to live those lives. Paul had a “thorn” that he begged the Lord three times to remove. God only said, my grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in your weakness. And maybe that is the bottom line, for if we could get ourselves out of the thicket, then we would consider ourselves as gods and not need the one that created us. Independence really is the enemy of trust and relationship. We have to come to a place of absolute trust and abandonment, even ad Abraham and yes Isaac also came to. Even Mary had to say “Be it unto me according to Your perfect will, to step into her destiny. There are lessons that He intends for us to learn, no matter what. There are skills and abilities that we have to learn to step fully into our destiny and relationship with Him. At some point, Pastor Kim said, we do step into transition and step into the new thing. Be careful that it is in the Lord’s timing, not our own!
So, I am (the ram) in the thicket! Do I like it, no, but is it good? Yes because it is of the Lord's hand and plan. I just wish I did not have a couple areas of my life that are like that! You would think that just one at a time would do! I am still trying to process all of this but atleast I now can process that thought that sometimes, all you really can do, when you have done all you can, is to stand and see the salvation of the Lord, one thicket at a time.
So, frankly, I related to this all too well. And yes, it did answer some questions, well whining actually of WHY? God. WHEN does this (these) hard situation(s) end? And the ever famous, HOW COME the other people don’t change so that I can get out of the darn thicket!! The answer from the Lord is “because I am working on everyone involved in this situation. And, when you are done with the process of having all of your soul go thru my fire and lastly, what is it to you what and how I do things in their life? (Shades of Job and Jesus speaking to the disciples all rolled into one.) Mind your own business and focus on you and I and what I am teaching you in the midst of the thicket.
I think sometimes, relationally, we are 2 (or 3) rams in the thicket looking at each other and saying, now what the heck do we do? We struggle and fight, succeeding only in entangling ourselves more thoroughly, until we are faint from exhaustion. We yell, we rage, we cry, we try to beg or bribe our way out of “our troubles” until we have tried every trick in the book. And in the end, none of any of the myriad of things we do amounts to a hill of beans. We are NOT getting out until it is time, period. And if by some happenchance we do find a way to start wriggling out, the Lord will just redo His thicket so that you have to transform into His likeness.
We can go to a place of blame easily. If you had not led the way up this hill, if you had not………etc etc etc then we/I would not be in this mess!! It is so easy to play the blame game but does that really accomplish anything? Especially if they are just as caught in the thicket as we are?
And in all of this, there is a decision that has to be made. If life as we know it, if the thickets in our life are never removed, how are we going to live those lives. Paul had a “thorn” that he begged the Lord three times to remove. God only said, my grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in your weakness. And maybe that is the bottom line, for if we could get ourselves out of the thicket, then we would consider ourselves as gods and not need the one that created us. Independence really is the enemy of trust and relationship. We have to come to a place of absolute trust and abandonment, even ad Abraham and yes Isaac also came to. Even Mary had to say “Be it unto me according to Your perfect will, to step into her destiny. There are lessons that He intends for us to learn, no matter what. There are skills and abilities that we have to learn to step fully into our destiny and relationship with Him. At some point, Pastor Kim said, we do step into transition and step into the new thing. Be careful that it is in the Lord’s timing, not our own!
So, I am (the ram) in the thicket! Do I like it, no, but is it good? Yes because it is of the Lord's hand and plan. I just wish I did not have a couple areas of my life that are like that! You would think that just one at a time would do! I am still trying to process all of this but atleast I now can process that thought that sometimes, all you really can do, when you have done all you can, is to stand and see the salvation of the Lord, one thicket at a time.
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