Monday, October 19, 2015

Are you a "cracked pot"?


2 Corinthians 2:14. But thanks be to Elohim, who always brings about to us a victory in the Mashiyach, and manifests by us the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place.  15. For through the Mashiyach, we are to Elohim a sweet aroma in them that live and in them that perish:  16. To these, an aroma of death to death; and to those, an aroma of life to life. And who is adequate to these things!  17. For we are not like others who water down the Words of Elohim; but as of the truth, and as of Elohim, we speak in the Mashiyach before Elohim.  (AENT)

I remember reading a story once about a man from long ago  (and I'm paraphrasing because I can't remember exactly how it went) who fetched the family’s water at a well at the top of a hill, using two clay pots fastened on either side of a big branch across his shoulders. One of the pots was cracked and usually, by the time he returned to his house, the leaky pot would be half empty.  Being poor, he couldn’t afford to buy another pot, and so, grumbling and lamenting over the wasted water, he kept using that broken pot because it was better than nothing.

Then one day, he noticed something:  Flowers were blooming all along the trail on the side where the cracked pot had been leaking the water on his trek down the hill.  He smiled when he realized the water had not gone to waste after all; that it had been used by Elohim to beautify the otherwise dull hillside to bring smiles and fill the air with wonderful fragrances!

Believers who have “passed through the fire” of this world and ended up with bruises and broken hearts and minds  are like that cracked pot - because, at some point, once they have been refined through their experiences, the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit) is bound to “leak out” and fill the air with the holy fragrance of YHWH, to nudge others.  These people exude a certain air that is filled with the shalom (peace) that only YHWH can provide! 

YHWH is able to better utilize as witnesses people who are “cracked pots” because they have the best testimonies!  They are able to pass on the knowledge and wisdom gained through their trials and tribulations; whereas those born with the proverbial “silver spoons in their mouths”, who have warmed church pews all their lives and never endured any real hardships and have had everything handed to them, have nothing tangible to share and rarely reflect Messiah within themselves. 

They’ve had no need to cling to the Savior or cry out in anguish to Him, because they were never thrust into real hardships.  They have never had to deal with gut-wrenching pain or adversity so, when something bad finally does happen to them, they fall apart and end up in the clutches of “the world” (i.e., they might end up as drug addicts or alcoholics, seeking help from psychiatrists or counselors with no knowledge of God or the Bible). They are basically babes who have never had a chance to learn and grow to be what YHWH needed them to be in preparation for the world to come. Consequently, they’re like lumps of coal with no holy reflection....

Zechariah 13:2 But who can endure the day when he comes? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire, like the soapmaker's lye. 3 He will sit, testing and purifying the silver; he will purify the sons of Levi, refining them like gold and silver, so that they can bring offerings to ADONAI uprightly. (CJB)

Zechariah 13:9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on My Name, and I will answer them; I will say, It is My people; and they shall say, Yahweh my Elohim is my Elohim. (CJB)

Malachi 3:2 But who can endure the day when he comes? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire, like the soapmaker's lye. 3 He will sit, testing and purifying the silver; he will purify the sons of Levi, refining them like gold and silver, so that they can bring offerings to ADONAI uprightly. (CJB)

Isaiah 48:10 "Look, I have refined you, but not [as severely] as silver; [rather] I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
(CJB)

Job 23:10 Yet he knows the way I take; when he has tested me, I will come out like gold. (CJB)

Job 23:10 Yet he knows the way I take; when he has tested me, I will come out like gold. 11 My feet have stayed in his footsteps; I keep to his way without turning aside. 12 I don't withdraw from his lips' command; I treasure his words more than my daily food. (CJB)

As YHWH's Creations, most of us have gone through "fire" in one way or another and, hopefully, we learned from the experience. Through our trials and tribulations, rough edges were smoothed and sharp edges were sluffed off, until we more closely resembled what we were meant to be.

God allows us to go through hard times so that we may grow and become smooth and shiny. His goal is for us to become a reflection of Him that not only He can see, but also so others can see Him in us.

The sooner we realize that, the quicker we become a valuable member of the Family of God, ready and willing to sow seeds and even water them, whenever the opportunity presents itself!

4 comments:

  1. Why does God allow times like they are today and a cult of death like Islam to prevail over man and HIS people....?
    And allow us to go through the fires of life.

    The simple answer to this is man has to be pushed into looking up to YHWH, he has to be put in a position to cry out to YHWH
    because we fall into compacancy far to easily, and turn our backs of GOD.

    Is it all that necessary..... NO, but man makes it so, if only he would learn from history....... But the very thing man doesn't learn is History, from history........

    We were never created to be on this earth for a good time or a long time. we are here to choose our eternity, Heaven or Hell.

    But we do have a Father, YHWH who is willing to make us see that HE cares what we choose.

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  2. Each of us goes through trials and tribulations, some may gruff, get mad and don't realize it. I am the type who realizes it, repents and comes to YHWH asking for deliverance.

    On a somewhat related note, does Yermeyah 16:19 refer to those who want freedom from the "generational curse/sin"? When I am with my mother, she'll hear me pray to YHWH asking for freedom from curses, lies and shame inherited from previous generations. She gets perplexed when I pray that.

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  3. Thank you for the post, Kevin. Yes, Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 16:19 can be said to apply to freedom from generational curses and sins. Here Yirmeyahu is longing for ALL nations, including the nations if Israel whom YHWH mentions as the ones who abandoned Him and His Torah (16:11) and the Gentile nations which are included in Yirmeyahu's plea "the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth", with all recognizing that "Our ancestors inherited nothing but lies, futile idols, completely useless." Yirmeyahu's is seeking people to turn back to YHWH, "my strength", echoing Psalm 18:2, 28:1, 28:8,59:17, and 2 Samuel 22:3!

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