Title:- Diems, Deums & Dumb De Dumbs!
Genesis 32:24-26
Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!”.
I wonder if there are three types of people in the world today: Dumb de Dumbs, Diems and Deums. A Dumb De Dumb could be a passive perambulator along the bright boulevard of life. Masses of money or lazy indifference or even mental illness (for believe me, each of these three types, positions or conditions can manifest the same symptoms of madness!) has led these ‘Dumb de Dumb’ people to simply disconnect from their eternal purpose and in-depth relationship with God and move to some kind of isolated observation platform, from which they simply lift their chin into the air and glance nonchalantly around, being so satisfied with their lot that they softly sing to themselves, “Dumb de dumb de dumb.... dumb de dumb de dumb.” Life holds little fear for these futile folk, because they are already the quasi dead, refusing long ago to grapple with the yawing eternity that lies within them and the mess, heaped up like old garbage, that lies outside of them. With money, indifference or mental illness, life may not be satisfying, but it is somehow bearable and has become even acceptable. “Dumb de dumb de dumb.... dumb de dumb de dumb.”
The Diems of life are far, far different. They are the movers and shakers, the artist and decision makers. They are, at the very least, making the most of whatever their hands find to do, they are going for it! At least the ‘it’ they think they should be going for. They are sucking on the dappled green rind of the red and rich dripping water melon of life baby! They are great to be with, they are on a journey, they are connecting with life, they are engaging with purpose, far ranging in relationship, and they are seizing the day for all it’s worth, they are the ‘Carpe Diems: Seizing The Day!’ Yet at the end of each long day, even with all this passion, they remain, uncomfortably restless. The doubting Diems always wonder if it’s all really worth it?
I woke up today with a vague remembrance of during the night, dreaming or thinking on that rascal called Jacob. He would no doubt have gotten his ‘Jewish Sandwich Soul Food’ from Wolfie Cohen’s Rascal House in Miami Beach, after a long night tending sheep along the broad beach up past the little city of Aventura. At an early age he moved from ‘Dumb de dumb’ status to being a ‘Carpe Diem’ and for many, many years, lived on the exciting roller coaster that such a lifestyle brought. He seized anything, he seized anyone and seized everything. Especially if it wasn’t his! However, this often repugnant, passionate and pugnacious individual was also in the end, still ravenously restless. In all Jacob’s long life there is but one incident that makes him frighteningly special to me. Frightening in that he fought with God and nearly won! Special in that God, with the softest touch, graciously disabled him so that all Jacob could do was hang on to his aggressor for dear life. You see, the thing that makes Jacob so different and so blessed, is not that after this epic title fight with God, all his skies were clear, no, ‘au contraire’ dear friend ‘au contraire!’. Nope, the so amazingly special thing is that Jacob the rascal seized God and would not let Him go until he received a blessedness that he would be satisfied with! O for the fellowship of such desperate men.
I say to you today dear friend, the only way we Christians should live out our lives is to seize God, capture Him in our arms and demand a blessing! Those of you who are offended by this; those of you who think this kind of impolite and disrespectful talking to a great and Sovereign Creator even, have a God, I imagine, who is to you, a God who is ‘afar off’. I would venture to say that all you might have is an idea of God, a beloved one maybe, yet never the less just an idea of who God is. Maybe God would grant you at some point the growing gift of desperation, together with, on some dark night of your blessed and desperate soul, the opportunity to be let loose to fight with the Lion Himself. I hope so, because until then, we all are a mocking caricature of what we should be and not even a pale shadow of what we might be. It’s only a little change of a letter to go from a Carpe Diem to a Carpe DEUM but I tell you, your life will never be the same again should you change that very little letter! Call Him out! Call Him in! Go on! Get to grips with God, go fight with Him. Go on friend, CARPE DEUM. SEIZE GOD AND LIVE!
Listen:- .. But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice (for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, Deuteronomy 4:28-31
Pray: - Lord, I don’t want to arrive in heaven without any scars; I don’t want to have never been in a fight with You and lost. So Lord I call You out today and challenge You to fight with me that You would beat me into blessedness. I dare you God! Do you dare too? Amen.
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