What is the nature of a man that when heat or searing pressure is applied, he begins to see his componentry? Why do we shine or fall through trial, battle and defense? What is this man that he rises to the challenges when forced beyond personal measure or capacity and demonstrates the qualities resembling God. For are we not only capable of the impossible when forced to demonstrate its majesty?

Why does God have to provoke us to war, confrontation or near loss of life or society before we will hear his earnest call to operate in a certain moral capacity? Why must we be forced into acting right, not having the concerned ideal surrounding obedience built into the machinery of our souls.  Why must we be forced by the hand of God to behave in a manner consistent with His calling upon our making?  What have we done that we consistently must provoke God’s anger that He lays down the gauntlet between us?  Am I not personally capable of behaving the way that God would have be behave? Must I forever force His Hand, holding me hostage in slavery to Pagan ritual or tyrants before I will sensibly acquiesce to His requirement?  What is the spring that has sprung, or the breaker which has tripped within my circuitry that I am incapable of surrendering to something that has been for betterment from the outset?  Am I foolish beyond measure?  Do I lack the capacity for discernment and understanding?

Why then when I have received sufficient pressure placed upon my physical being and my psyche do I suddenly and immediately come around to God’s way of thinking?  And when I approach that boiling or melting point or camel’s straw moment do I first feel compelled to ask God or inquire why He has brought me to the point to which I alone am responsible? Must everything difficult be a discipline of God’s hand or perhaps have I brought the difficulties upon my own body for my own betterment, because I knew all along that God was right and refused to give in? Is this not a new level of foolish previously undefined in dictionary?  I mean this certainly must  be a separate category of oddity that requires a unique asterisk in the world of human stupidity of frailty, Stating, “here is the man who always contends with God, just to see himself checked”.

And once a man has gone through this purgatory of his own making and understanding, is there some lesson learned that compels caution at next approach?  Of course not for the fool shall always remain the fool and continue in his folly until his back is permanently broken, or he is mightily and finally dispatched in a moment of behavior beyond ridiculous.  Enough, I do not wish to be this man that puts himself through trials with God for the sake of testing the limits of the relationship. It is enough to learn the signals and approaches of humility to God’s direction without having to suffer the painful shocks applied when consistent and repeated encroachment is embarked.

Being heated in the fires of the crucible is one thing for in those moments I walk hand in hand with the Lord through the refining fires of His intention and direction.  Bringing or sparking additional visits to the forge through my own arrogance and unwilling surrender is at end.  I will not contend with God. Certainly I am going to fall down and fail repeatedly as a man stuck in this carnality.  However, the repeated and undisciplined attempts to do that which I know will bring God’s reaction must end.

I am not so much like Adam as I am becoming more as Christ, for it is from Adam’s position that I venture to the resting place in God. As I begin to resemble the Lord I have found a willingness to do the work of the Father without force, cajoling or correction. Why would the Lord have to correct a Son who wants to bring Glory to His name. Certainly a Son of Good intent will make mistakes or take the incorrect step from time to time only to be kindly and forcefully corrected and set upon the proper path, but there is little discipline and more direction.

I love God and want what He wants for me. I do not wish to provoke Him but to serve and please Him in faithful action.  I am melting in this furnace with my nation as I see the people arguing with the Father who wants them to mind His correction, yet they refuse to hear, will not listen and presumably deny His existence as they pursue the paths of the own design and measure. Father, I see a time coming and the reason for it, where those hard of hearing from a loving God, must be persuaded to their continued and perpetual desire for ignorance.  God help us when that time comes for it require seeing our separation from you, a desperate spot for man or beast.

Lord Help us to follow your commands for our lives, understanding that they are gentle and safe regard for the best life possible. I pray for this nation Lord that even those who call themselves among the woken even now follow the path they know to be inconsistent with your call upon their lives.  May they be kindly corrected and not damaged or broken as I almost forced upon myself when not listening to your call. Forgive me Lord for not reaching them, I pray that your Spirit’s Call through my heart plants the seeds that may germinate in ample timing for restitution, correction and course recovery. Within the Hand of God I reside until the time when I may be standing behind you with the brethren waiting upon the things of God.  In Jesus’ Name.