20151231:Is35:6 The lame leap like a deer!

 Is35:6 Then will the lame leap like a deer!

The crippling event at the end of 2015!

I eat fast. I talk fast. And perhaps walk fast too.  

But this interesting most unfortunate event that took place on boxing day set me thinking  a lot. Thanks to many well wishes, I was reminded that I was no longer a young lady but an older dame going past the 50 Golden Jubilee this year and it is time to slow down.

I still eat and talk fast. But over the past 7 days, I no longer walk that fast! In fact doing some daily chores indeed had become a real chore! For eg, I am unable to hang up the washed curtains in the home!

Interestingly this evening, we were invited to an MLM dinner by a company which sells a single product called PURTIER (what a name!). The main ingredient is deer placenta.  So this evening some very dear deer thots came as I reflected on : Who came , Why I was framed and the aim of life once again.  Inspired by the PUR..IER thots through this name with the Cross in between, this poem was framed as a reminder for myself .

2015 saw the tetra blood moons, the economic gloom, the terrorist zoom and the shaking of the church bloom.  All the not so nice world news and ugly and unedifying church sagas.  So what next, Lord for 2016?

Despite the lame

We shall always proclaim

jEsus is the greatest name

In Him we shall never be ashamed

iN the garden of Eden fame

God took Adam's bone so that Eve was framed

Osteoporosis is now a common name

In Adam we shall now know who to blame

So despite an unfortunate lame

At the end of 2015 as it came

Let not the crutches make one tame

But come 2016 let the flame of Jesus set to be your only holy aim!

Reading Isaiah 35 this wee hours of the morning on the 31/12/2015.  The last day of 2015.

A very comforting Word about the Joy of the Redeemed.

The desert and the parched land will be glad;
    the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, ² it will burst into bloom;
    it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
    the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the Lord,
    the splendor of our God.

³ Strengthen the feeble hands,
    steady the knees that give way;
⁴ say to those with fearful hearts,
    “Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
    he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
    he will come to save you.”

⁵ Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
    and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
⁶ Then will the lame leap like a deer,
    and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
    and streams in the desert.
⁷ The burning sand will become a pool,
    the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
    grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

⁸ And a highway will be there;
    it will be called the Way of Holiness;
    it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
    wicked fools will go about on it.
⁹ No lion will be there,
    nor any ravenous beast;
    they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
¹⁰     and those the Lord has rescued will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
    everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
    and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Some Deer Leaping Year End Reflections :
1. Cripple Love

Do you know how many times the Lord mentioned about the weak, the crippled and the lame? In fact , most of the gospels- healings are targetted at this group of people. And in Luke 14:21, when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind. Such is the crippling agape love of our dear Lord Jesus to those who are seemingly the weakest and most vulnerable or marginalised.

2. Cripple Condition
Do you know that Jesus had some very strong words for the those wanting to enter life? In fact in Matt18:8 & Mark 9:45 " If you foot causes you to stumble, cut it off.  It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell" Eternal Fire.

With my recent fall experience, I so badly wanted my foot to be back to normal  asap! I wanted both my feet - to be in balance and allow me to run and play my tennis again!  But now I see that the Lord exhorts us to walk steadfastly in Him.  Even If the ISIS were to torture one into denouncing Christ, be maimed, would we be able to pass this crippling test?


3. Cripple Experiences of Man in the Bible

• Gen 32 : Jacob's hip was wrenched/ crippled by the man he wrestled with till day break.  Because the man could not overpower Jacob so he broke his hip! Oh my. He pleaded with Jacob to let him go as it was daybreak, What did Jacob reply? "I WILL NOT let you go unless you bless me" What audacity. Well, Jacob got his wish granted. His name was changed by God to Israel; (which means he struggled with God).  And with such boldness, Jacob asked the man's name. But of course it was not revealed. But Jacob later called the place PENIEL (which means the face of God) ."It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared" So Jacob limped away thereafter.

Oh what awesome experience ! So crutches experiences or limping events are not necessary bad in life. Once you understand the kairos moments.  No one has seen God face to face.  Even Moses could not as he crouched in between the rocks and only saw the back of God. But Jacob did wrestle with God face to face!

• Gen49:21: Jacob's blessing over his son Napthali "Napthali is a doe set free that bears the fawn"

Interestingly, Napthali means wrestle/struggle . The 6th son.  The symbol used is that of a gazelle - swift - beautiful in the wild in gentleness and grace.  The very first reference to deer in the bible is in Gen. 49:21 in Jacob’s prophecy to his sons. About Naphtali he says, “He is a deer let loose, he gives goodly words.”  

So if you have ever watched National Geographic on how deers leap, perhaps we will find that indeed the bible is alive! In Psalm 18:33 it says “He makes my feet like the feet of deer, and sets me on my high places.” Isaiah 35:6 declares "the lame shall leap like a deer" in a time when God’s kingdom rules.  When crippling situations come at us, we must remember these people in the bible - be steady steady poon pi pi. Ai Zai.  Steady surefooted.  Slowed down, watch and leap over like the deer over the fence! Keep on wrestling with God, never let Him go under you are released with His full blessing!

The Dearest Dear?

The romantics love the book of the Song of Solomon.  2:8 "My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag.  Look! He stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, perring throught the lattice."

A deer is loving. And we called our spouses "dear" at times.  But no matter how dear our spouses can be, words can hurt and we are humans after all.  We cannot fully satisfy the desires of our spouses' heart and neither can they.

At times when marriages seem to dry up or our spiritual walk loses steam, in a summary we can only look to the Dear One who came and love us for who we are.  He the truly the Lover of our Soul.  

The rest I am getting for the next 4 -6 weeks and hopefully not 3 months as suggested by the Orthopaedic is a good change.  Remembering David and an old song Ps 42:1" As the deer pants for the water brook, so pants my soul for you O God"

• Will we walk in the Highway of Holiness in 2016?
• Will we keep thirsting for Him?
• Will we rejoice come what may and let the sighing and sorrow flee away?

Goodbye 2015!