Immanuel

Immanuel

by Max Lucado

The King walked over and reached for the book. He turned it toward Lucifer and commanded, “Come, Deceiver, read the name of the One who will call your bluff. Read the name of the One who will storm your gates.”

Satan rose slowly off his haunches. Like a wary wolf, he walked a wide circle toward the desk until he stood before the volume and read the word:

“Immanuel?” he muttered to himself, then spoke in a tone of disbelief. “God with us?” For the first time the hooded head turned squarely toward the face of the Father. “No. Not even You would do that. Not even You would go so far.”

“You’ve never believed me, Satan.”

“But Immanuel? The plan is bizarre! You don’t know what it’s like on Earth! You don’t know how dark I’ve made it. It’s putrid. It’s evil. It’s…”

“IT IS MINE,” proclaimed the King. “AND I WILL RECLAIM WHAT IS MINE. I WILL BECOME FLESH. I WILL FEEL WHAT MY CREATURES FEEL. I WILL SEE WHAT THEY SEE.”

“But what of their sin?”

“I will bring mercy.”

“What of their death?”

“I will give life.”

Satan stood speechless.

God spoke, “I love my children. Love does not take away the beloved’s freedom. But love takes away fear. And Immanuel will leave behind a tribe of fearless children. They will not fear you or your hell.”

Satan stepped back at the thought. His retort was childish. “Th-th-they will too!”

“I will take away all sin. I will take away death. Without sin and without death, you have no power.”

Around and around in a circle Satan paced, clenching and unclenching his wiry fingers. When he finally stopped, he asked a question that even I was thinking. “Why? Why would You do this?”

The Father’s voice was deep and soft. “Because I love them.”

From An Angel's Story (originally published as Cosmic Christmas) Copyright (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2002, 2004) Max Lucado

The Battle

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance, Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything...blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will recieve the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him" ~ James 1:2-4,12

"My son, do not make light of the Lord's disciple, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, becuse the Lord disciplines those he loves and he punishes everone he accepts as a son. Endure hardship as disciple; God is treating you as a son." ~ Hebrews 12:5-7

"you were taught with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." ~ Ephesians 4:22-24

"therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an enternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is een, but on what is unseen, For what is een is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." ~ 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

"For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future." ~ Jeremiah 29:11

"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. I will build you up again, and you will be rebuilt, O virgin Israel." ~ Jeremiah 31:3-4


An new beginning. That was the intent of this blog. Stuff happened and I decided that it was time to put of my old self and to put on the new, just like it was said in Ephesians. Part of that was in my blogging styles. Only I have run into a conflict. It seems that even now, I am reverting back to my old syle of life. Its scary. I don't want to. But in a way it almost seems out of my control. I feel bad in "putting the old" back on. Yet another side of me says that we are human and humans are sinful creatures. Therefore this is a battle that we are going to encounter daily....therefore just make it a habit to daily put on the new and pick up your cross.

Another way I have tried to change my thinking in regards to my current battle of depression, is that is does not have to be a diabling effect in my life. I can look at it as the Lord discipling me, building perseverance, maturity, and changing the inside. Kindda like my metaphor the me being the clay and God the potter. Depression is just one of the "pottery" tools that he is using. I was able to stick to this mindframe and actually came to accept it relatively well. It made sense. That is until now. It made sense when my depression wasn't necessarily bad and things were going a lot better then they had been....

Now, I am battling another relatively hard fight. And the previous battling that did (while things were going better) seemed to have drained me of all strength. I don't like thinking that God is just disciplining me. It seems cruel and inhummane. This is no easy thing that he is asking of me to bear. It is back breaking work. I hate it. Yet my mind battles because I know that he has good plans for me (jer 29:11), I know that he loves me. But I still wrestle with the "why"...why me?...why now?....why so long?....why won't you heal me?...and all the other questions.

So I am sitting with incompatible positions (1) God loves me, depression is a discipline and some good will come out if it, he is not trying to harm me...thus all that scripture teaches and I should believe.... (2) Depression is this cruel punishment that God has sent upon me, that he really doesnt have a plan to "cure" me and that I am never going to be able to fight this, its too hard, its not nice disciple, he cannot have good out of this...

Social Psych claims that because these two thoughts are incompatible with each other, I will adjust my beliefs of God to fit with my idea of depression. Or will adjust my idea of depression to fit with my belief of God

I am at a stand still. I have played both sides of the coin at different times and I dont know which one is right or which one is true, because both are very real realities.....and it hurts