The parched ground shall become a pool . . . —Isaiah 35:7
We always have a vision of something before it actually becomes real to us. When we realize that the vision is real, but is not yet real in us, Satan comes to us with his temptations, and we are inclined to say that there is no point in even trying to continue. Instead of the vision becoming real to us, we have entered into a valley of humiliation.
Life is not as idle ore,
But iron dug from central gloom,
And battered by the shocks of doom
To shape and use.
God gives us a vision, and then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of that vision. It is in the valley that so many of us give up and faint. Every God-given vision will become real if we will only have patience. Just think of the enormous amount of free time God has! He is never in a hurry. Yet we are always in such a frantic hurry. While still in the light of the glory of the vision, we go right out to do things, but the vision is not yet real in us. God has to take us into the valley and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the point where He can trust us with the reality of the vision. Ever since God gave us the vision, He has been at work. He is getting us into the shape of the goal He has for us, and yet over and over again we try to escape from the Sculptor’s hand in an effort to batter ourselves into the shape of our own goal.
The vision that God gives is not some unattainable castle in the sky, but a vision of what God wants you to be down here. Allow the Potter to put you on His wheel and whirl you around as He desires. Then as surely as God is God, and you are you, you will turn out as an exact likeness of the vision. But don’t lose heart in the process. If you have ever had a vision from God, you may try as you will to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never allow it.
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July 6, 2011 (a journal entry from last year)-JDV
I wonder about the vision when it seems so far away. Lord, it seems like the shaping and molding is taking so long. Day after day the circumstances are still difficult and it seems as if the vision will never become a reality. I know I am being shaped and molded into the man you want me to become…but Lord isn’t there a timeout or a reprieve or respite and or retreat? Is there a place where I can enjoy more of life and life abundantly? Sometimes it seems like just as the vision gets closer; it is snatched away and put back up on the mountain top ledge. And once again I must start another journey up the mountain.
And God says…”It is essential that you be broken. It is even more essential that you stay broken. You’re shaping and molding is a work more important than the vision and or your accomplishments and support of My kingdom. I can create all the help I need for My kingdom and My people; however, I cannot force you into the character and integrity essential for your life and eternity. You must choose to take those “right… and difficult steps”. Your right choices evolve from the character that is shaped by your circumstances. When you move your vision from your circumstances, and onto Me and the vision I provide, you are living life and life more abundantly.”
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