Echoes From the Campfire

Nothing stays the same.  A man has to go with the times.  No man can put a rope on the past and hope to snub it down.  The best thing is to learn to ride the new trails.”
              –Louis L’Amour

    “You have heard; See all this. And will you not declare it? I have made you hear new things from this time, Even hidden things, and you did not know them.”
              –Isaiah 48:6 (NKJV)
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“Woe is me,” she was probably crying.  “The Lord has forsaken me; He has left me and I am undone.”  The problem was not that the Lord had forsaken her, but that she couldn’t see.  Mary was standing outside the empty tomb, not remembering the words of Jesus, and she was weeping when the “Gardener” accosted her.  Her tears had blurred her vision; she had not come to realize the words of Christ and that nothing stays the same.  Time and eternity had changed for her and she had not yet realized it.

         “But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,…  And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, ‘Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?’ She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, ‘Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.’
         Jesus saith unto her, ‘Mary….'”
                             –John 20:11, 14-16 (KJV)

Was it unbelief or was it simply that her tears got in the way of her vision and she didn’t recognize the Lord?  Sometimes our emotions run amuck and they can cause us to lose sight of the Lord.  It can cause our vision to be blurred.  
    There may be weeping in life and it may cause us pain, and blur our vision of what the Lord is doing in our lives.  Tears may be there for one reason or another, but do not forget the promises of God.

         “For His anger is but for a moment, but His favor is for a lifetime or in His favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”
                              –Psalm 30:5 (AMPC)

Look at the morning.  Every day the Lord’s mercies are renewed.  Every day is a day given to us by the Lord to use for His glory and to enjoy His mercies and blessings.  Don’t let tears or other emotions blur your life.  Wipe them away and see the risen Savior as He stands in front of you.
    However, there are other reasons for blurred vision, in fact, it is actually blindness.  It may be caused by bitterness, hatred, superstition, heathen and pagan practices, and/or the foolishness of the atheist.  The Pawnee worshipped the god Tirawa by sacrificing a healthy, good-looking male captive.  Also, Mars, the Morning Star, in their belief was worshipped by shooting a sacred arrow through the heart of a young captive girl.  After her captor shot her through the heart, the rest of the warriors would then fill her body with arrows.  (Win Run: Trail Rider Devotion)
    Talk about blurred vision, yet there are those who say that Christianity should not have been brought to the heathen.  In other words, they are saying those people should have been left alone and lost in their sins.  But Jesus wants us to wipe away whatever is causing the tears–whether it be hatred or joy, bitterness or sorrow.  
    Friends, wipe your eyes and look up–for your redemption is drawing nigh.  Not only is He coming soon, He is standing right before you.