A few weeks back, after a long dry spell, it began to rain. Not just any rain, but a good, steady rain. As I was on my way to work, I heard, “The filth of Saruman is washing away” [The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Jackson, Peter]. I told myself, “I’m such a nerd!” And I had a good laugh at me.
But it began to dawn on me
that just before I heard that statement, I had prayed, “Lord, I don’t want
to talk; I just want to listen and hear what You would say this morning.”
That couldn’t have been
God, could it? I mean, I know He isn’t
limited to King James verbiage, but to say something from a movie? Isn’t He on a totally higher level than we
are? Well, maybe, just maybe, God really
would say something like this. Maybe He does
have the ability and knowledge to use things that have meaning to us. And just maybe, again, He would speak “nerd”, ebonics, New-Yorker,
or whatever He needs to in order to get His point across.
If that
was God’s voice, then what is the “filth
of Saruman”?When the word “filth” is used in the Bible, it is used to describe the lowest, most detestable thing – many times it’s human refuse. And in the Bible, the prophet Isaiah says that our righteousness is like “filthy rags” to God (Is. 64:6). That’s pretty bad, isn’t it?
So,
is the Holy Spirit literally washing away the filth of our righteousness … our human
efforts? Is He cleansing His bride from
a mentality of works and preparing her for a new revealing of grace?
I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.
Peace,
Davina
No comments:
Post a Comment