Solomon's Splendor

I often think about the Israelites freedom walk and the time that they spent in the wilderness. After 400 years in captivity, the Lord set them... more

by Lisa Albinus

Title

Solomon's Splendor

Artist

Lisa Albinus

Medium

Painting - Colored Pencil, Ink, Marker

Description

I often think about the Israelites freedom walk and the time that they spent in the wilderness. After 400 years in captivity, the Lord set them free. As they walked through the wilderness, they lamented and they cried for their captivity to return. In the wilderness, there were many unknowns, they didn�t know what to expect. They didn�t know what would meet them over the next rise or around the next bend. They didn�t know where their protection would come from or where they would find food and shelter. The �comfort� of their captivity was more tolerable than the unknowns of their freedom. With each step that they took away from Egypt, they took a step of faith, in God�s provision and God�s promise of abundance.
We are all called on our own, personal freedom walks countless times in our lives. Sickness, unemployment, death all call us to the wilderness of our hearts and the unknown. We don�t have any idea what tomorrow will bring, what is waiting around the bend or the lurking behind the next hill. But we walk, and we take one step at a time, a step in faith, farther and farther away for that which held us in captivity. We find ourselves walking farther away from the hopeless job, we walk away from the abusive relationships, we trudge away from the sickness and the despair, we walk away from deceased love ones and we enter into the very wilderness of our hearts, where we have a choice. In this wilderness of our hearts there is fertile ground. We can sow seeds of faith or we can look back and long for the chains to return, the very chains of our captivity to be clamped around our necks again, entrapping us in bondage and slavery. If we choose the chains, the fertile ground of our hearts will allow the chains to grow and entwine us in the memories of our misery and in the longing for the familiarity of our shackles.
Or, we can rejoice in our freedom! We can walk on and hold dear what we once were and look forward, with pregnant expectancy, to what is to come. When we see the storm clouds on the horizon, rather than become frightened, we can see the eye of God that is always watching us and providing for us. Those clouds will bring life, they will clear the old things away. The rain restores and the wind cleans the cobwebs of our memories, so that we can become the very reflection of God and reflect His countenance of abundance and provision. In the eye of your storm, watch for the daily manna that God will provide. Look for the blessings in your circumstances Open your heart wide and send out a daily olive branch, a twig of hope and faith, that will return back to you with a promise that solid ground is on the way and right around the corner.

Uploaded

October 24th, 2010