Half blind was how I spent the day. Having to scrape the remnants of a contact out of my eye was a bit of a worrying experience and the throbbing headache which followed told me all was not well once it was out. My plans to survey the woodlands was indeed pushed aside, leaving me to read of ancient Israel for a long while and fritter away other whiles. Fortunately, my early morning venture satisfied that part of my soul which seeks regular contact with the various elements.

Over the last week I’ve had a some conversations about the various Biblical prophesies, as they are, and predictions, as they are considered. A burst of realization entered into my soul when it occured to me that throughout my Bible even the most very devout rarely made the right predictions. It seems the only ones who really saw and welcomed the work of God were those who let the prophesies be more fluid, more focused on general ideals than on specific events. Theology often, too often, gets in the way of experiencing God. Because the theology becomes our God, being at many points more palpable and approachable than the God who is complicated and has a distinct personality.

The people who are most sure of the revelation are the ones who miss out on seeing what God actually does. That was the pharisees, a holy, devout, God-fearing bunch if ever there was one, who would not accept Jesus because he did not fit their pattern of what God would do in this world, so they rejected what God was doing.

Prophesies, it seems, are not made as teases for our own sake, they are not trailers for the upcoming events, they are not predictions meant to help us draw a picture of what will happen, so we can figure out the end like it is a mystery novel. They are meant as confirmations of the fact that when God acts it is according to how he said he would act, acting in a way which perfectly fits the prophesies for what they are, but rarely as we make them out to be.

There is a fluidity in coming before God, in living with God. This is wonderful only if we understand this reality means being humble in our own estimations of his significantly higher plans. If we are, then we celebrate what he does. If we’re not, we are caught looking other ways when his activitiy astounds the world