Monday, January 02, 2006
The Trumpet Over Osaka
By Ramone - January 1, 2006
On the Wednesday before the New Year I was sitting in a cafe near my job, praying and reading through some different passages for a couple hours. The one that struck me the most was Gideon. At the end I sketched a little picture, and drew it like this while at Yoko's parents' home after eating New Year's dinner (mmm, sukiyaki!). The style is something I'm playing around with recently using a Japanese calligraphy pen and then a regular pen on top of it in gesture style. Regular buildings and famous sights of Osaka are visible in the sunset. Over them a trumpet is sounding...
When Yoko and I were coming home on the train, I explained it...
When I was at the cafe reading about Gideon, I was startled to read Judges 6:34, which says,
"Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him."
The trumpet is something that my friend Hazel really helped me understand. It's God's aching cry of "Ho!", "Come!" What was new for me was reading that the Spirit came upon Gideon and he blew the trumpet, and the people came to help him overthrow the Midianites.
Many times I've tried to blow the trumpet and awaken others to what God's laid on our hearts, but the Spirit will blow the trumpet, if you know what I mean! He will send who He wants to send. And even then, as with Gideon, not all will stay --- so that He may be seen, that His glory may be lifted up and that we know deliverance is from Him.
Like Gideon, even though God's spoken to me and put His heart in me, I've kept asking for sign after sign, wanting reassurance even though His first word was sure deliverance. When God sent Gideon into the enemy camp for the final sign (hearing the dream an enemy soldier had of Gideon's victory), Gideon was finally sure of God's victory and told his soldiers what the angels had told him, "God's given the Midianites into your hands!"
As I told that part to Yoko, I said, "But now God is sharing His passion & saying, 'I've given the whole Midianite camp into your hands!'" Yoko and I fell silent & smiling into His heavy tangible presence, stopped at His word, presence & awesomeness.
His victory is sure in us, in Osaka. The Spirit will blow the trumpet... thank You, God.
# posted by Ramone @ 11:05 AM 
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