Coming Out!

Coming Out, how could 2 simple words brought together bring fear, nervousness, pride and defiances? In a very unusual move I went to Merriam-Webster to try and define the phrase. This is what I came up with:
Definition of COME OUT

1
a: to come into public view : make a public appearance <a new magazine has come out> b: to become evident <his pride came out in his refusal to accept help>

2
: to declare oneself especially in public utterance <came out in favor of the proposal>
intransitive verb
1
a: to move toward something : approach <come here> b: to move or journey to a vicinity with a specified purpose <come see us> <come and see what's going on>



That was easy enough for generalities but I am being drawn to specifics.About 3 weeks ago I started being confronted by this phrase in every area imaginable, It was in the news, in conversations with LGBT friends, emails from people desiring a friend and support and as a result it was like an underground river rolling through my spirit and subconscious. I felt I needed to address the issue but was unsure of the pathway to take to get there. Three days ago the river surfaced with a beautiful and yet powerful display of it's might. It showed up in my quiet times and prayer times and it finally started revealing itself.
I almost felt like a time traveller as mental pictures from the Bible started flowing. It was like a "Who's Who" list. We can start with Adam and Eve when they hid in the Garden and God called them out (Genesis 3), Moses at the burning bush, all Israel coming out of Egypt in Exodus , the dry bones in Ezekiel 37, and Lazarus in John 11. In every case there was a calling out, a choice to be made to move forward towards an unknown future, except for Lazarus and the dry bones, but more on them later. then my attention was directed to Gideon, Saul and Jesus then ultimately US.
In Judges 6 we find Gideon hiding in the winepress thrashing his wheat. He is a frightened, disheartened young man filled with angst over the oppression of the Midianites and their terrorizing of his family, friends and all Israel. Sounds like a lot of folks today including myself at times. God sends an Angel of the LOrd to meet Him in his tattered state and he utters a strange greeting The Lord is with you O mighty Warrior ( vs. 12) . After the shock wore off Gideon , in either a bold or foolish action, questions God as to why his life and surroundings are a shambles. INstead of defending Himself God continues to call out Gideon to be a savior to the land of Israel, He tells him to go in his own strength and deliver Israel from Midian( vs. 14). All Gideon knew was to defend his station in life,h e was the least of the least(vs. 15) and I started feeling uneasy inside. In the remainder of the chapter he prepares an offering before the Lord and the Angel calls down the fire from heaven to consume it. Gideon had a major attitude adjustment and identity realization was starting to crystallize. It is time for Gideon to "Come out". Verses 25 thru 32 record his first steps in his coming out as he destroys the altars of Baal and makes sacrifice to the Lord. He is understanding his true identity. He even receives a new name in verse 32. The rest of the story is a record of God challenging Gideon to come out and lay hold of his true destiny and fulfil it. He never puts on airs or false masks during this story, he is without guile and very openly honest. A side bar to this is that the great King Saul had a similar experience and yet in the end he fell from favor with God and lost his kingdom because he was always a little unsure and double minded about his identity even after being anointed by the prophet Samuel . The book of 1 Samuel relays a sad story of a man with an identity problem. Two men called to come out by their Creator, both respond and yet only one fulfills his full destiny. I found myself thinking of both Ruth and Esther. Both women were born as mere peasants and yet both fulfilled destinies of greatness because they knew who they were and whose they were. Esther has always been special to me because of one sentence her uncle Mordecai sends her in the castle. It challenged her to embrace the destiny before her and that eternally challenges all of us," could it be that you were created for just such a time as this!"( Esther 4:13,14). This is,to me, one the life verses that keep urging me on and calling me out even though I am not sure what the future holds. In Luke 4: 1-13 we find Jesus being anointed and filled and immediately led to the desert for forty days to test Him and to prepare Him for His own "coming out". The Son of God and man had to embrace His identity and test it in the desert before He began to fulfil that part of His destiny. The heart of this to me at least, is a call to receive, accept and embrace the person we were created to be. There is a very core building block in each of our lives and before anything else we must be true to our Creator's plans and designs for us. It took several years of running from God out of hurt and rebellion when I first came out but I could never let go of my true self and my destiny. Funny thing about destinies, we aren't all called to greatness or stature as the world knows it but rather it brings an abundance of life, freedom and a release from the judgments of men. In Isaiah 60 we are called to arise and shine for the glory of the Lord is upon us. He is waiting for us both individually and corporately to come out and own our identity. Jesus quoted Isaiah 61 at the beginning of His own ministry and I believe it is a job description of sorts for those who become followers of Jesus. The price will be great at times and we will be tempted, like Saul, to shrink away or find alternate plans but we know how that turned out.

I am not an end-times fanatic or dedicated student of Revelations but while this was coming together a verse that has always urged me on kept coming to mind. In Revelations 3: 14-22 God speaks a chilling word to the church at Laodicea. Verse 16 records "So because you are lukewarm and neither hot or cold I will spit you out of My mouth". This wasn't Laodicea's destiny by God's choice but their own when they embraced the world with all the whistles and bells and false identities. This has always haunted me and driven me forward.
Finally, I hope, we see two very different stories but both have the same results. In Ezekiel 37 we find dry and lifeless bones raised up and restored to fulfil their destiny. They had once been a mighty army that was, in man's eyes dead, destroyed and of no further use. In John 11 we find Lazarus dead and in a tomb. In verse 4 Jesus responds to the news by saying "This sickness is not unto death, but for thee Glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified.". Same God, Father, and for us the same heart-cry to His children- Come out, come forth, embrace your identity, the one I gave you, and your destiny and the result will be LIFE. We are the "whosoever" John 3:16 speaks of and the abundant life is waiting here in this life for us.
May you be richly blessed and find the favor of God resting upon you. May you be filled with a prosperous soul.
Charlena Marie Andrews-Hayes