The Drum or the Gold?

So I'm reading another Ted Dekker book - this one is called When Heaven Weeps. It is part of his The Martyr's Song series. I must say I've yet to read a book of his that is not good. The same underlying theme of God's great love for us is woven into each story, but each story line is unique. Yet he is able to weave many of the stories together. Amazing!

This particular story takes place in the early 1960's and is about one of the character's in the original Martyr's Song book (which took place during the end of WWII). He has now become a famous author due to his writing a book which was published in 1959 called The Dance of the Dead which retells what happened to him in WWII. Throughout the story there are excerpts from his book included. Here are a couple that impacted me.

(Note: Karadzic was a man in the Martyr's Song story who basically personified evil)

"We all have some of Karadzic swimming under the surface. We have all spit on the face of our Creator. Thinking that we have not is self-righteous - which is itself a form of spitting."

Wow! That may sound a bit harsh, but it is so true. I read this last week about the same time I came across the verse in Ephesians 4 again about grieving the Holy Spirit. It just seemed to go together to me.

"If you were to put all of the world's pain in one fifty-gallon drum, it would look silly next to the mountains fo gold and silver found in each moment with God. Our problem is that we rarely see past the drum."

Wow again! I've had moments where I've felt the very presence of God. It is an amazing feeling. During every one of those times I was doing one of three things - praying, worshiping and/or reading God's Word. The times of prayer and worship however, were not always times where I was on my knees before Him. Sometimes it was just going about my normal day to day activities and I would see something that would make me stop at least mentally and praise God for something that caught my attention. I've also started to get into the habit of talking to God in prayer more throughout my day, bringing every little thing to Him. He is a friend who I can confide in throughout the day.

God does want us to spend quiet time with Him, listening for that small still voice. However, He does not want us to leave that spirit of prayer and worship at the door when we walk out into the world each day. Nuturing a thankful heart and making that a normal part of your day to day activities helps to keep that spirit of prayer and worship with us all day long. When we have this attitude our perspective changes. We begin to see things through God's eyes and with His heart. Then when something bad happens to us our reaction will be different. We will start reacting to situations based on His perspective, His Word and not based on our own human understanding. We begin to focus on the moutains of gold and silver instead of on the fifty gallon drum.

So, as you begin your day - ask yourself, which do you choose - the drum or the gold?