A View From The Sycamore Tree: Momentary and Light

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Momentary and Light - 2 Corinthians 4

"For momentary, light affliction

is producing for us an eternal weight

of glory far beyond all comparison."

(2 Corinthians 4:17)

Several years ago, while reading Charles Spurgeon's "Morning and Evening," I ran across this quote: "That which seems to us a crushing burden is to Him but a speck of dust." It stuck with me and this morning it flooded my memory as I read this verse.

I've been in a very long and incredibly weighty trial. It has been 11 months of difficult testing and of refining fire - greater than any trial I've ever faced - ever! It seems like I've been in this spot for an eternity. It seems like it may never end. It seems a "crushing burden." That's the way it "seems" but things are not always as they seem and this verse is a good reminder of that fact.

While 11 months seems like a long time when you are chained to "the rack" - it is in reality less than a blip on the radar screen of eternity. A good friend recently reminded me of Joseph's 14 years in prison. From our perspective that doesn't seem very momentary - its 14 years of a life -but from an eternal perspective 14 years is nothing! Blip!!

Take it a step further. Even if we were under the continual torture of excruciating pain and suffering from the day of our birth to the day of our death and all of that happening constantly over the course of an average life span - 70 years - even that is truly only momentary in the light of eternity. Blip!! And friends - we are eternal beings. This life is but a vapor!

Time can seem long and things can seem heavy. However, Paul is reminding us - as was Spurgeon - that crushing weights are lighter than feathers to our God. They are "light"! Here Paul is striving to help us take our eyes off of the momentary and place them on the everlasting. Yes, what we have in the here and now may be hard - very hard - but let us stack up the temporal against the eternal - BLIP!! And let us weigh the weight of the here and now on the scale of the glory that is to come! No comparison!

Matthew Henry writes that Paul "saw their sufferings working toward heaven. They would end at last." Yes, they will end at last and they will end forever and ever.

Let us weigh things upon God's scale that we might find the glory of heaven to be so much greater than the grind of earth.

Henry goes on to say: "That which sense was ready to pronounce heavy and long, faith perceived to be light and short and but for a moment. Faith enabled them to make a right judgment. Unseen things are eternal, seen things are temporary. By faith we not only discern these things and the great difference between them, but by faith we actually take our aim at the unseen things."

By faith we take our aim at them and by grace we apprehend them. If you are under the seemingly long and heavy weight of suffering may our gracious God enable you, by grace through faith, to view your times through His eternal lens. If you are His, oh suffering servant, know that He is producing an eternal weight of glory in you through your trial and that eternal weight is a freeing weight beyond all comparison.

Taking aim at the eternal,

Lori

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Here We Go!

This is a blog about the goodness and grace of God, even amidst the angst of autism.

So ... how did this whole thing start?

Well, I said I'd never do this but obviously here I am. After being challenged, encouraged, goaded and double dog dared, several years ago I began to blog.

Near the end of 2008, I found myself with renewed passion for God's Word, Kingdom, and people and I was stirred, through nothing other than the simple means of grace, to a hunger and thirsting for righteousness unlike any other time in my 20+ years as a Christian.

During that period, I began typing out the things that were striking me the most in my quiet time each morning. Honestly, I started because I wanted to have a written record that I could pass along to my children one day - lettered Ebenezers reminding them of how much their Mom loves God and His Word.

While doing that I found myself so excited on certain days that I began to email my musings to some of my girl friends, hoping to encourage them even as Christ was encouraging me. Many of those gals challenged me to put these things online in a blog form so others could have access to them. That's how this site started.

Now, to shoot really straight with you, that personal "revival" of mine has pendumatically ebbed and flowed over the course of the days, months and years since 2008. For a prolonged period after that initial renewing surge I actually found myself in an utterly antithetical place. God, in His wisdom, was pleased to grant me a substantial season in the dark dungeon of "doubting castle" - those days were some of the hardest of my life post-Jesus but were providentially ordained days ultimately used for my good and for my God's glory.

"Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come" by nothing but the amazing grace of an amazing God.

I've learned that even in the midst of the darkest of days there's just something about the light of God's Word that is powerful. The Scripture has been an anchor for me in the storm surge of life. Even when my eyes have seemed to be rather veiled and my vision somewhat dimmed, there has still been a re-focusing force that has risen when I have gazed long and hard upon the Word of God. Thus, even as a saint who struggles, I continue to write of my God, my Redeemer, His promises, and His truth.

I'm not always very regular at posting here because there are many more important duties in my life right now than blog uploads - ie. being wife, mom, housekeeper, cook, taxi service, chief bottle washer, and laundry lady - along with that music thing I do as a side gig! But, as time allows I'll be cutting and pasting from Joshua and Elizabeth's future journal gift and sharing some of it with you as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

Who's Doing This?

Lori Sealy is daily amazed at the grace of God in her life. Adopted as an infant and raised in an evangelical church, she rebelled against the things of Christ during high school and considered herself an atheist. Upon entering college, the God who ordains our steps ordained that her path would cross with several students who loved Christ and loved His Word. During that first year of college, she set out to destroy the faith of these young Christians. They set out to pray for her salvation.

Knowing that "faith comes through hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ," six college students daily confronted her sin and challenged her with the truths of God's glorious Word. Their obedience in proclaiming the good news of the gospel of Christ bore fruit in August of 1988 when by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, she was adopted for the second time in her life - this time into the family of God.

Lori is now the wife of Phillip Sealy. They live in Sylva, North Carolina where Phillip has been called to plant a new church for the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) - Redeemer Church Sylva. The Sealys have two children Joshua (14) and Elizabeth (12). Lori and Joshua both live with autism.

In her spare time (what little there is) Lori masquerades as a part-time songwriter/singer and performs on a limited monthly basis. Lori's newest CD, "The Strife is Over," has recently released. Hard copies of it, along with her last release "Begone Unbelief", are available through CD Baby and Lori's own website. Digital downloads are available through iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon mp3!

Be sure to visit http://www.lorisealy.com/ to learn more!

Why the Sycamore Tree?

Zaccheus, the wee little man, wanted to see Jesus and so he climbed into the sycamore tree in order to get a good look. Lori, the wee little wife and mom, longs to see Jesus as well. I realize that the place where I will catch a true glimpse of Him is in the pages of His Word.

The Bible is my sycamore tree and I find myself longing more and more to climb up into its branches that I might see Christ more clearly. This blog is simply a record of what God is teaching me as I spend time in "the tree" of His glorious Word. If anyone reads it I'll be amazed; if anyone profits from it I'll be humbled; and if anything good is found in it Soli Deo Gloria!