"DO DISTURB" SIGN…!!!
First things first. Why was man created? Let the revered Christian document namely the West minister catechism give the answer “Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.” And when it comes to magnifying Him, we need to do that JUST FOR WHAT HE IS rather than for what we get from Him for this kind of selfless worship is natural, spontaneous and comes with no strings attached. In this movie…opps…I mean essay, I propose to bring to the fore HIS UNIQUE ABILITY TO SURPRISE US WITH SOME OF HIS UNIQUE QUALITIES not normally seen in the great leaders of our perishable world. LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION…
Scene one…
There I was between the devil and the deep blue sea (many years ago during my secular stint of 13 years in the Indian oil sector) pacing nervously in the Hotel aisle, peering frighteningly at the “Do not disturb” sign, unable to decide whether to thumb the Room doorbell or not. Let me present the backdrop to the scene. During one of our Company’s conferences’ in a reputed Hotel in Hyderabad (where I was posted at that time), our firm’s senior director was suddenly taken ill. A doctor was summoned by the Hotel management, problem thankfully diagnosed as “not serious” but as something “mild” resulting from excessive stress and the VIP patient duly advised some much-needed rest. Lo and behold, after three hours our branch office at Hyderabad gets a fax message from the Head Office (blissfully oblivious about the developments in Hyderabad), seeking our Director’s advice on an urgent matter and on one Mr. Suresh Manoharan, the ever loyal foot soldier (read field officer) fell the onerous responsibility of disturbing an indisposed VIP with a message bearing “SOS” overtones. The dilemma would not have been acute, if the fax message had arrived say two hours before. I would not have even entertained an idea of disturbing the resting “General of our troops” who had taken just “one hour” rest but please understand, in my calculating mind now the “Captain of the army” had been cooling his heels for good three hours… so should he not be disturbed to address an emergency?
How I solved (actual modus operandi) the pressing problem with minimal damage to all concerned is beyond the scope of this essay but suffice it to say, I rang the doorbell of the Creator Himself (prayed) to help me in this sticky situation and He promptly gave me (HE WAS NOT RESTNG, YOU SEE ) the wisdom to sort out the knotty issue in no time. Ah the dangling, diabolic, sinister-looking (at that time, that is) “Do not disturb” sign! It refuses to go away from my mind!!!
Amazing isn’t it, the “Director of the universe” never puts out a disturbing “Do not disturb sign” before His Sanctum sanctorum to anyone seeking His help? Consider this verse
“…Take no rest, all you who pray to the LORD.
Give the LORD no rest until he completes his work…” Isaiah 62:6-7
It may be mind-boggling but the fact of the matter is that our good Lord virtually has a placard hanging on his bosom “Disturb me”. At a time mortal leaders, with their obvious limitations need their “own private time”, solving our problems only when their “Darbars (courts) are in session”, is it not refreshing to see the King of Kings, by stark contrast throwing the gauntlet “Do not give me any rest till I answer your prayers.”? Boy…this challenge comforting as it is, is guaranteed to “disturb the disturbance” in the anxious lot, reassuring them of an immediate audience with their problem-solving LORD OF LORDS. And that’s not all…
Scene two…
An over the moon Sports scribe (many years ago) after shaking hands with a tennis legend (you want to know his name…okay here goes… Rod Laver), refrains from WASHING HIS HANDS for good 3 hours till its lunch time. You see…shaking hands with that Champion had been nothing short of a nirvana experience for this Sports correspondent. We ordinary mortals who all have our heroes’ ranging from Sport stars’ to movie luminaries can well identify with the sentiments of that humble Sports journalist. Forget an all-powerful president or a prime minister honestly compels us to admit that the very prospect of coming just near a relatively more accessible sports or movie icon is in itself a fulfilling experience for many of the ordinary folks like us.
Now consider scene three…
An ordinary flesh and blood mortal …no saint all his life… on the contrary a plain cheat…is demanding and (surprise of surprises) getting a blessing from the Omnipotent One. Guess after what…mere hand-shaking experience? No… after a priceless privilege of being engaged in an ethereal, fulfilling wrestling bout with the DIVINE. Welcome to Jacob’s (grabber) life-transforming experience (Genesis 32:22-29), when he let go of his propensity to depend on his own cunning to “get things done” manipulatively, deciding instead from then on to simply hold onto the ONE of infinite resources to solve his problems. Oh, how personal is our God!!! Hey, THE KING OF KINGS allows us to be touched, better permits wrestling with Him!!! Oh, how much the good Lord enjoys His children, wrestling in prayer with Him! Of course, this observation needs to be tempered with the Scriptural truth of Matt 4:7 (1 Cor 14:20).
Lest this Jacob experience be consigned to “one-off” category, He goes one better, He comes and dwells with us donning mortal flesh, as a part of His greater redemption plan. Consider the excitement of John, an apostle of the Word made flesh (John 1:14) when he penned these words oozing joy…The Message translation gets the message right…
"From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we're telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us.
We saw it, we heard it, and now we're telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!" (I John 1:1-4). If the Almighty dwelt physically amongst the early disciples in the First century, to us now is given the far greater invaluable privilege of being His temples, when He indwells us in Spirit, giving us at once the indescribable heavenly joy (I Peter 1:1-8).
Hey our God is not-so-distant, impersonal being but an accessible, personal ONE, not the one to put a “Do not disturb sign” around His persona but the ONE, who “rejoices in being disturbed” oh –so-often.
By the way, have you pleasantly “disturbed” Him, of late? Engaged in some “ethereal wrestling prayer bouts”…Do not miss out on these inexpressible joys in this side of the eternity…and rejoice for the Best is yet to come. Let THE BOOK of books take over at this stage
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
for those who love him.-I Cor 2:9”
Wear and do not disturb this “sign” on your spirit “OUR UNIQUE GOD OF SURPRISES WILL CONTINUE TO SURPRISE US WITH SOMETHING UNIQUE THROUGHTOUT ETERNITY.”
HALLELUJAH!
Suresh Manoharan
www.jandsmministries.com
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