I recall back in 1979 when I was truly desperate and was not saved, God came crashing into my soul like light crashing into a dark place.

In the years that followed there were times when desperation set in again and again.  During those times new light would come crashing in and God would not only bring deliverance but He would always work on changing me.

Until we are desperate our spiritual eyes and ears do not function well.

Mark 4:9-12 – The Parable of The Sower.

9 And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
10 But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable.
11 And He said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables,
12 “so that ‘Seeing they may see and not perceive, And hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, And their sins be forgiven them.’”

Notice in the above Scripture that Jesus stated that He intentionally has this mystery hidden.  I often wondered why He would say, "And hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, And their sins be forgiven them."  He was referring to Isaiah chapter 6 wherein it is recorded that Isaiah had a new revelation of the Lord.  This occurred when his King Uzziah died.  Uzziah had been a great and powerful king of Israel.  He brought prosperity and safety from enemies.  But when he died, Isaiah's hope turned only to the Lord.  It is out of that desperation that God reveals Himself to people.  In that same chapter, God called Isaiah to go preach an unusual message.

“And He said, 'Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.  Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed.'' Then I said, 'Lord, how long?' And He answered: 'Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, The houses are without a man, The land is utterly desolate'” (Isaiah 6:9-11).

When Isaiah asked the Lord how long he should preach this strange message, the answer was, in my paraphrase, "Until they become desperate."

We need to intentionally dethrone all of our "kings" except for Jesus.  The "king" that most competes with Him is our old nature, our old self, our flesh.

If the Lord is our Shepherd, then we need to make sure we give Him the Shepherd's rights over our lives.

Larry Chkoreff May 2008