Obstruction Free Zone

Lord, your rules are wonderful. That is why I follow them. As people understand your word, it brings light to their lives. Your word makes even simple people wise. My desire to hear your commands is so strong that I wait with open mouth, gasping for breath. (Psalm 119:129-131 ERV)

How do you "find out" things in life? Are you an inquisitive individual who searches out truth and seeks to understand the meaning of things, or perhaps how things "work"? I have two grandsons - one very mechanical and inventive, the other very artistic and creative. Each sees things just a little differently, but also kind of similarly. They have a way of picturing things and then creating them - especially my oldest one. We wanted a stand for our fishing poles and he had an small folding table (the type you use in bed) with a broken top. The legs were made of heavy duty metal tubing/wire. You guessed it - he took it apart, began sawing the pieces and bending into a top and stake for the pole holder. Then he fashioned a multi-part stake to attach all this to (while still allowing it to come apart into four pieces) to now have a "rest" for his fishing poles while shore fishing. When it was all said and done, he had created something out of what would be cast off - making what was once quite useless into something quite spectacular! It could just be he was doing what God does in each of us every time we come to him seeking to understand him just a little more!

Light comes when we seek it. I recently installed two solar lights into the backyard for a little bit of "security" and to have some low-lighting so I could enjoy the garden a little bit longer than the few hours I have after work. One is excellently placed to pick up lots and lots of sun rays during the day. The other will have to be moved around a little to pick up equally as many rays, because it didn't quite last as long on its "charge" as the other did. One was "turned toward" the sun without any obstruction in the rays coming toward it. The other likely suffered some "interference" from the patio overhang and/or the trees in the vicinity. It should not surprise us that an "unobstructed" path between us and the LIGHT produces the best "charge" or "recharge". The more obstructions there are in our path, the harder it is to obtain that same level of "charge". God's Word brings light - but when there are obstructions in the way - such as regret, anger, mistrust, or even guilt, it will impact how much we are "open" to receiving that light. Light is best received when there is no obstruction in its path! Any obstruction just leaves a shadow and where shadows exist, there is limited "reception".

To seek well, we first remove or "relinquish" the obstructions. Maybe that means we "seek first" God's grace and then we begin to bask in the warmth of his Light which comes from the Word. To really begin to understand God, to really figure out who he is and how he is moving in our lives, we need to be in the best place to receive what he is revealing to us by the Light that comes through to us. Just sayin!