breaking the hush

The longer I’m in here, the more growth I see in me and the more I understand. But, there’s a point where I would ask God, “Did it really have to happen this way? Couldn’t I have learned these things in a church? What about a bible study? Prison, really? Isn’t that a little extreme? And what about that person? Did I really need to happen this way? Couldn’t I have learned these things in a church? What about a bible study? Prison, really? Isn’t that a little extreme? And what about that person? Did I really need him in my life to teach me that? Oswald Chambers writes in reference to Colossians 1:24, “And now I am happy about my sufferings for you, for by means of my physical sufferings I am helping to complete what still remains of Christ’s sufferings on behalf of his body, the church” and Isaiah 6:8, “Then I heard the Lord say, ‘Whom shall I send? Who will be our messenger?’ I answered, ‘I will go! Send me!’”

“This call has nothing to do with personal sanctification, but with being made broken-bread and poured-out wine. God can never make us wine if we object to the fingers He uses to crush us with. If God would only use His own fingers, and make me broken-bread and poured-out wine in a special way! But, when He uses someone whom we dislike, or some set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit, and makes those crushers, we object…if we are going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed: you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed…we have to be adjusted into God before we can be broken bread in His hands. Keep right with God, and let Him do what He likes, and you will find that He is producing the kind of bread and wine that will benefit His other children!”

So, the growth may not always come about the way we want or think, but remember the purpose of the crushing. And when you say, “Here I am, send me,” know and understand what you are saying. Don’t be like a marble and try to escape when He uses the fingers He wants, but submit and obey and see how you will benefit His Kingdom. I can’t wait!

Breaking the Hush,

Shawn