Four Distinct Tones

[Christsfreeservant]

Tuesday, January 11, 2011, 8:15 a.m. – I woke this morning to a ringing sound in my ear. I don’t know if the sound was in a dream or if it truly was an audible sound, nonetheless, the sound woke me. I lay in bed pondering what could have caused the sound. It was not a sound our home telephone would make, nor was it a sound my cell phone would produce. It was not my alarm sounding nor my husband’s alarm, as well as it was not his cell phone. It had 4 distinct tones to it in rapid succession, but I could not identify its source. Then, I began to pray, and while I was praying, the Lord brought this song to mind:

Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken / Henry F. Lyte / Mozart/ Arr. Hubert P. Main

Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow Thee;
Destitute, despised, forsaken, Thou, from hence, my all shalt be.
Perish every fond ambition, all I've sought, and hoped, and known;
Yet how rich is my condition, God and Christ are still my own!

Let the world despise and leave me, they have left my Savior, too;
Human hearts and looks deceive me; Thou art not, like man, untrue;
And, while Thou shalt smile upon me, God of wisdom, love, and might,
Foes may hate, and friends disown me; show Thy face, and all is bright.

Go then, earthly fame and treasure! Come, disaster, scorn, and pain!
In Thy service pain is pleasure; with Thy favor loss is gain.
I have called Thee, Abba, Father, I have stayed my heart on Thee;
Storms may howl and clouds may gather; all must work for good to me.

Haste then on from grace to glory, armed by faith and winged by prayer;
God's eternal day's before thee, God's own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon shall close thy earthly mission, swift shall pass thy pilgrim days,
Hope shall change to glad fruition, faith to sight, and prayer to praise.

I prayed, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening,” and then I read John 9:1-41. This is the story of the man who was born blind. Jesus put mud on the man’s eyes and told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. When the man did this, he could see. His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging questioned him about how he could see. Then, they took him to the Pharisees, and they, too, questioned the man, since Jesus had healed the man on the Sabbath. Some of the Pharisees said,(speaking of Jesus) “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” They also were not satisfied with the man’s responses to their questions, so they inquired of his parents. Beginning with v. 20:

… “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”

25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?”

28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”

30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

Spiritual Blindness
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

39 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

To be continued next post...

 

[Christsfreeservant]

Continued from previous post...

My Understanding: As I was praying over this passage of scripture in relation to this song, I sensed the Lord saying to me that there was a reason I heard that ringing sound in my ear with the four distinct tones. I definitely saw four distinct tones in these 4 stanzas to this song:

Take up your cross and follow Jesus and leave everything of this world behind

What struck me about this in relation to this story of the blind man is that what he left behind was his blindness and what he received by following Jesus Christ was his sight. So many times people will choose to not believe in Jesus Christ or they will choose to follow him only in form (surface level; from a distance) but not in truth or in heart because they fear that such a commitment will mean they will have to give up all the things they enjoy in this life. Yet, what they don’t realize is that what they are giving up is truly their spiritual blindness and what they gain is their spiritual sight. I love the blind man’s response to the Pharisees when they kept questioning him about Jesus. He didn’t know much about who Jesus was, but what he did know is that once he was blind and now he could see. Awesome! If that is all the testimony we can ever give, that is the greatest testimony of all!

Let the world despise and leave me, for they treated Jesus the same way

Through the man’s identification with Jesus Christ, because Jesus had healed him of his blindness, and because of his testimony to that fact, the man was treated the same as they treated Jesus. They accused Jesus of being “not from God” because he healed a man on the Sabbath. It was ok for them to rescue a sheep on the Sabbath, but it was not ok for Jesus to heal a man on the Sabbath – how hypocritical of them! Jesus told them that a man’s life was much more valuable than that of a sheep, as well as he told them that he was Lord of the Sabbath. He told them, too, that he desired mercy, not sacrifice. What was important to him was not so much strict adherence to a set of rules involving the external and physical man, but what he cared about was what was in our hearts and our attitudes and our actions towards him and towards others (See Matthew 12).

The Jews had also decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. Jesus was not shy in his discourse with the Jews and the Pharisees and the teachers of the law in letting them know who he was (See John 8), and the man who had been healed of his blindness was also not afraid to give testimony to what Jesus had done for him in healing him of his blindness. This infuriated the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. They plotted to arrest and to kill Jesus. They threw this man out of the synagogue. So, they treated the man the same way or in a similar manner in which they also treated Jesus, because the man identified himself with Jesus in his healing. They hurled their insults at Jesus and they hurled their insults at this man, because they saw him as one of Jesus’ disciples. The truth came out as to their real reasoning in treating Jesus and this man in this way, though, when they said “How dare you lecture us!” Aha! - That ugly word “pride.” Jesus injured their pride and their self-righteousness and they hated him for it.

Go then, earthly fame and treasure and come what may with life’s storms

I don’t think this man had many earthly fortunes to forsake, as he was a blind beggar, and I don’t believe he had much in the way of fame, either, other than people did recognize him as the man who was born blind and who was a beggar. So, it appears he didn’t have much to lose, yet it is amazing to me how many people cling to their old lives that are filled with junk, emptiness, despair, etc., because it is what they know and what is familiar to them.

The man could have refused to be healed and he could have chosen to remain in his blindness. After all, it was what he had known his whole life. He didn’t have to work. He got attention, even if it was negative attention, and other people supplied his needs for him. So, he could have chosen to remain in his blindness because it was comfortable. Choosing to be healed opened up a whole new world for him of unfamiliarity and rejection like he had never known before. So, when we choose to leave our former lives behind, the ‘treasure’ or the ‘fame’ we may be leaving behind may be the familiarity of sin and the acceptance of our friends, only to venture out into a new life of freedom from sin and possible rejection from those who had once been ok with us and how we were living before we were healed of our blindness. They didn’t bother with the blind man until he was no longer blind. Sadly enough, much of our rejection will not come from the world but will come from the “religious,” and much will not come while we are still blinded in our sins, but will rather come once we have made the decision to allow Jesus to give us spiritual sight, to leave our former lives of sin behind, and to venture out into freedom in Christ and to having a testimony for Jesus that says, “Once I was blind, but now I see!”

Haste then on from grace to glory as I am armed by faith and winged by prayer

After the religious leaders threw the man out of the synagogue, Jesus found him. I love that part! Man may reject us, hate us, persecute us, say all manner of evil against us, etc., yet Jesus looks for us until he finds us, and then he receives us when we come humbly before him and we accept what he did for us on the cross into our lives. The man believed and he worshiped Jesus.

In relation to this man’s belief and his healing from blindness, Jesus said that he came into the world for judgment so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind. He was speaking here of spiritual blindness. Some of the Pharisees overheard him and asked, “What? Are we blind too?” Jesus told them that if they were blind, they would not be guilty of sin, but since they claimed they could see, their guilt remained. Jesus’ point he was making to them was that they were not like the man born blind who needed to have his spiritual eyes opened. They claimed they could see, i.e. they were proud of their knowledge of the scriptures and their strict adherence to the letter of the law and their self-righteousness, so that is why they were guilty. And, that is why they had become blind, because their own pride, arrogance and self-righteousness had blinded them to the truth.

Yet, the man who had been blind allowed Jesus to give him sight – both physically and spiritually. He believed in Jesus. He testified of what Jesus did in his life in giving him his sight. He stood firm in his testimony even in the face of ridicule and persecution, insults and threats. He did not back down even when he was in danger of being thrown out of the synagogue, which today could be compared to the institutional church and being thrown out of it. And, the institutional church leaders are known to throw out of the institution of church those who give genuine testimony of how Jesus took them from blindness to light if it exposes the sin of the religious leaders or threatens their power or injures their pride. And, we should not be surprised that we share in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings and that we are treated by the religious leaders and our fellow Christians even as Jesus was treated by the Jews and the religious leaders of his day.

Yet, our hope is found in the cross of Jesus Christ, in what he did for us in bringing sight to our eyes, in our taking up our cross daily and following him, and in us leaving behind whatever we might “treasure,” even if it is a broken life that we have held on to because it is familiar. And, our hope is in the spiritual sight that Jesus gives us to first of all believe in him, to worship him, to obey him, to follow him, to be a testimony for him, and to stand firm in our faith even in the face of great opposition. Lastly, our hope is found in the promise of our Lord’s return and of our eternity with him forever when our faith will be sight, our hope will come to maturity and will have the desired outcome, and our prayer will turn to praise at the realization of the glorious hope we have held on to being revealed, and we are with our Lord Jesus Christ, our Father and Holy Spirit forever and ever! Amen!!

 

[Mixolydian]

You are definitely a morning person! Love your posts/devotionals.

 

[Christsfreeservant]

You are definitely a morning person! Love your posts/devotionals.

Thank you for your words of encouragement! I just write what the Lord teaches me each day during my quiet time with him, so thank the Lord that he is using them to minister to people.

I had just been blogging them, but then recently felt the Lord leading me to post them on a discussion group, so I posted some here and some on the non-denominational group, as I am trying to find the most appropriate place for me to share my daily quiet times with the Lord and what he is teaching me each day. So, your feedback is most helpful and appreciated.

God bless you!

 

[wayfaring man]

In a somewhat similar correlation:

4 tones -

1. Hearing
2. Believing
3. Receiving
4. Completing

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. <-----> Ephesians 1:13+14
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also, wrote the following a few days ago, and it seems to fit well here too-

When a blind man whom Jesus had miraculously given sight to, was told he should question the nature of The Lord's existence, he said something to the effect of - Whether he is this way or that way I cannot tell...but one thing I do know for sure, and that is that I once was blind, but now I see !

And this is the nature of our relationship to God, for though we cannot tell all that there is to tell about God, yet by believing, we experience dramatic, yea even miraculous change for the better; wherefore we will continue to believe and grow in the grace and the knowledge of The Divine.

wm

 

[Christsfreeservant]

In a somewhat similar correlation:

4 tones -

1. Hearing
2. Believing
3. Receiving
4. Completing

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. <-----> Ephesians 1:13+14
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also, wrote the following a few days ago, and it seems to fit well here too-

When a blind man whom Jesus had miraculously given sight to, was told he should question the nature of The Lord's existence, he said something to the effect of - Whether he is this way or that way I cannot tell...but one thing I do know for sure, and that is that I once was blind, but now I see !

And this is the nature of our relationship to God, for though we cannot tell all that there is to tell about God, yet by believing, we experience dramatic, yea even miraculous change for the better; wherefore we will continue to believe and grow in the grace and the knowledge of The Divine.

wm

Thank you! I like those four tones and the scripture that went with them, too. Also, I so agree with you that this story of the blind man's testimony regarding Jesus fits so well with the very nature of faith. We are not going to know or to understand everything there is to know about God. Faith describes the miracle of God's grace in human lives in taking them from being blind and in giving them spiritual sight. Amen! Thanks so much for sharing that.