Read Online Empire's End by Jerry Jenkins, James S. MacDonald - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Jerry Jenkins, James S. MacDonald
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would have expected of me was to be a slave.
Yet now, as soon as I pledged myself to serve God alone, He asked meâno, commanded meâto become a bondservant of Christ. And strangely, nothing appealed to me more.
Yes, Lord! Anything!
My Son appeared to you to make you a witness of the things you have seenand what I will reveal to you. I will send you to open the eyes of the Gentiles in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to Me, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in My Son
.
I wanted to say,
Yes, Lord
again, but I could not find utterance, even silently. I merely trudged on as a pinkish hue spread in the sky.
Make your way to the plateau before you
.
It appeared about a half mile away, and I prayed God would not remain silent as I increased my pace. I gathered my mantle at my thighs so it would not restrict me, and sand flew from my sandals as I broke into a trot. I felt as if I were racing into the very presence of God and couldnât get there fast enough. My breath became short and I wondered why He could not have prompted me to ride Theo.
The pink in the sky gave way to orange and then yellow and finally a cloudless blue, and the sun warmed the skin above and below the hair that rimmed my head. Sweat trickled down my neck, and I slipped out of my mantle, draping it over my arm as I ran on across the desert.
When finally I reached the plateau, I was spent and thankful beyond measure for the perfect breakfast I had enjoyed, without which I would not have been able to endure that run. But now I had to climb ten feet of steep, slippery rock, my throat parched, and spread my mantle across the broad boulder at the top so I could prostrate myself there in prayer.
I draped myself over it, planted my elbows, and rested my head in my hands.
Lord, I thirst
.
Thirst for Me
.
I do
.
And as my panting slowed, my physical thirst disappeared.
Prone there in the early morning sun, I might have dozed had I not been so expectant. Who else anywhere had been awarded such a privilege?Should I have brought parchment and quills? On the other hand, could anyone forget anything told him by God Almighty?
He had to be amused at the very sight of me. What must the desert creatures have thought of the crazy man racing through the sand to the point of exhaustion, without food or water, now stretched out like a lizard in the sun?
Yet I had the sense I was where I was supposed to be, and I would wait there all day for another word from on high. It wasnât long before I wondered if I might have to. I lay there in an attitude of prayer for about an hour before my back stiffened and my joints ached and I found myself constantly shifting to take the pressure off my bones. Finally I sat up and crossed my legs. What a contrast to the comfort Iâd felt on Theoâs back as he hurtled hundreds of miles throughout night and day to get me to Arabia.
Was this a test? Did the Lord require something else of me? I would have done anything. But being sovereign and omniscient, He knew that. It began to dawn on me: I had never been a patient man. God had brought me to this remote, desolate wasteland to free me of the distractions of life. He had stripped me of all but the clothes on my back and the sandals on my feet and left me dependent on an old man, a widow, a child, a trade I hadnât plied since childhood, and a horse that didnât even belong to me and of which He had already implied He was about to deprive me.
Now He was forcing patience upon me. But had He not told me that He would use the same zeal, the passion that I had misdirected against Jesus, now to make Him known, yea, even to the Gentiles? Had He not planned since eternity past to make me both Greek and Roman and a Pharisee of Pharisees, to give me such a fervor for life that I would do anything for His cause? Would not my singular restlessness be of benefit to Him
Yet now, as soon as I pledged myself to serve God alone, He asked meâno, commanded meâto become a bondservant of Christ. And strangely, nothing appealed to me more.
Yes, Lord! Anything!
My Son appeared to you to make you a witness of the things you have seenand what I will reveal to you. I will send you to open the eyes of the Gentiles in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to Me, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in My Son
.
I wanted to say,
Yes, Lord
again, but I could not find utterance, even silently. I merely trudged on as a pinkish hue spread in the sky.
Make your way to the plateau before you
.
It appeared about a half mile away, and I prayed God would not remain silent as I increased my pace. I gathered my mantle at my thighs so it would not restrict me, and sand flew from my sandals as I broke into a trot. I felt as if I were racing into the very presence of God and couldnât get there fast enough. My breath became short and I wondered why He could not have prompted me to ride Theo.
The pink in the sky gave way to orange and then yellow and finally a cloudless blue, and the sun warmed the skin above and below the hair that rimmed my head. Sweat trickled down my neck, and I slipped out of my mantle, draping it over my arm as I ran on across the desert.
When finally I reached the plateau, I was spent and thankful beyond measure for the perfect breakfast I had enjoyed, without which I would not have been able to endure that run. But now I had to climb ten feet of steep, slippery rock, my throat parched, and spread my mantle across the broad boulder at the top so I could prostrate myself there in prayer.
I draped myself over it, planted my elbows, and rested my head in my hands.
Lord, I thirst
.
Thirst for Me
.
I do
.
And as my panting slowed, my physical thirst disappeared.
Prone there in the early morning sun, I might have dozed had I not been so expectant. Who else anywhere had been awarded such a privilege?Should I have brought parchment and quills? On the other hand, could anyone forget anything told him by God Almighty?
He had to be amused at the very sight of me. What must the desert creatures have thought of the crazy man racing through the sand to the point of exhaustion, without food or water, now stretched out like a lizard in the sun?
Yet I had the sense I was where I was supposed to be, and I would wait there all day for another word from on high. It wasnât long before I wondered if I might have to. I lay there in an attitude of prayer for about an hour before my back stiffened and my joints ached and I found myself constantly shifting to take the pressure off my bones. Finally I sat up and crossed my legs. What a contrast to the comfort Iâd felt on Theoâs back as he hurtled hundreds of miles throughout night and day to get me to Arabia.
Was this a test? Did the Lord require something else of me? I would have done anything. But being sovereign and omniscient, He knew that. It began to dawn on me: I had never been a patient man. God had brought me to this remote, desolate wasteland to free me of the distractions of life. He had stripped me of all but the clothes on my back and the sandals on my feet and left me dependent on an old man, a widow, a child, a trade I hadnât plied since childhood, and a horse that didnât even belong to me and of which He had already implied He was about to deprive me.
Now He was forcing patience upon me. But had He not told me that He would use the same zeal, the passion that I had misdirected against Jesus, now to make Him known, yea, even to the Gentiles? Had He not planned since eternity past to make me both Greek and Roman and a Pharisee of Pharisees, to give me such a fervor for life that I would do anything for His cause? Would not my singular restlessness be of benefit to Him
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