I have always loved goats and lambs. I find their antics entertainingly delightful, and I can do a mean imitation of both, vocally and when the urge presents itself, kinetically. I learned years ago that lambs leap out of sheer joy: yes, thats me!
Entrepreneurial efforts were thwarted
I have been listening to the story of Jacob. His entrepreneurial efforts were thwarted for decades by his uncle, who just so happened to be his father-in-law too. The contractual spit-with-a-wink-and-a-handshake agreement they had made, closely resembled the business deal Jacob had struck with his own nuclear family. Jacob was a slick kinda character, and what he had done in youth was also done unto him: the whole law of sowing and reaping or perhaps, what you don’t resist persists, plays out in his life story. No matter how you look at the picture or the characters therein, character flaws, are on display: namely those of deception with action steps of manipulation and theivery combined. The moral of the story? Some guys and gals try to get their own way, with more trickery than truth, taking them down that sorted garden path of dysfunction we all like to make fun of, and somehow can’t resist in our own lives.
There is God
But then, there is God. I have to laugh at this minimalistic and ridiculously understated short sentence: But then, there is God! Upon rereading this sentence, I chuckle again. There is nothing but God and dear reader, our antics!
God has a plan
Getting back to the story of Jacob, I will very briefly share, that God had a plan for him that superseded all of the tomfoolery (forgive me Tom, I thought this was a fun substitute for the word antics!) that Jacob and his messy family had indulged themselves in. The exciting news, is that Gods plan was individualistic and supremely, global too! It included me, and you, and all the other bleating and blemished, speckled and spotted goats and lambs in the flock!
The perfect Lamb of God
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| Open fields are for joyful leaping |
I am a speckled and spotted goat-sheep dear reader. I have all of the characteristics of being perfectly imperfect and today, I leap for joy and bleat my pleasure, because I hear my Shepherds’ voice and The Perfect Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, even in my tiny corner of it, is alive and well, leading me to good pasture. What a relief, to know it is to him, that I belong… that his plan for the spotted is spectacular and beyond my imagining or more pointedly, my manipulation!
I see my speckles and spots
I know who I am in Christ. It is the only me I recognize: it is with him and him alone, that I see my speckles and spots, and next I feel them washed away by the blood, spent for me on the cross of Christ.
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
Bahhhhhh, God is Goooooood. Trust in the Lamb of God, and you will be speckle and spot free too.
