Most of us would hear that statement 'living in a cocoon' and get a very negative or constricting feeling. And to be honest I think in some cases those would be a pretty accurate and correct feeling. In the church we sometimes tend to shelter ourselves from the world around us to a point of not even being able to be a light in it.But I was reading an entry in Jesus Calling by Sarah Young this morning that really paralleled a comment only moments earlier on my Facebook post. I mentioned I hadn't slept well and was tired. Someone mentioned they had awoke several mornings around 3am and had heard that's the time God wanted to talk with us and wondered what He wanted to say. I responded that if we will just still our spirits we can always hear what he's already saying. Then I opened the devotion and saw these words in the first two lines on the days entry...
"I Am All Around You, like a cocoon of Light. My Presence with you is a promise, independent of your awareness of Me."
He is indeed talking today :)
The entry focuses on how worry can block our pipeline to His presence. I agree. But as I came back to those first few lines my mind focused on just the simplicity of those words themselves.
HE IS. No matter what. Independent of my awareness. He doesn't need me. No need for my response to Him for His presence to be. No need for a reaction or movement from me to exist in any moment of time. God has no dependence on man to work, to create, to speak, or to be. As I sat on my couch thinking on this I realized I was literally humming the song "You are God Alone" where the first verse says this:
You are not a God created by human hands
You are not a God dependant on any mortal man
You are not a God in need of anything we can give
By Your plan, that's just the way it is
How many times do I feel I have to totally set my self a part to hear from Him? Don't get me wrong, I do think that is absolutely necessary. Time to only hear His voice. Time to be so removed from all distractions so I can know the deep life changing direction I need from Him to make decisions, and to learn the intimate things that He wants to use to move profoundly in my life and relationships - this requires that I achieve a level of communion with Him that is beyond the every day.
But to live in a cocoon of His presence daily, so that at any moment I can just turn and listen to what He is already speaking and asking of me? That's not restricting - that's freeing!
I remember the comfort as a child knowing my Dad was watching me from the porch as I played, and the security that it gave me that he was right there near by.
I would be playing games, kick ball, or riding my bike. But do you know that I remember the one thing that made me feel especially secure was when I could hear His voice? I'd be laughing, running, and jumping, but when I heard him in the background talking with my mom or his friends that made me brave.
John 10:14 says - I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me
Isaiah 30:21 tells us - Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
I mentioned above He doesn't need me. That's true. BUT HE WANTS ME!!
He is always closer than the very skin that covers my bones and tissue, His presence is in me, around me and through me. And He is always talking. It's up to me to learn Him so well that I can at any given moment tap in to what He is saying, doing, and giving me the chance to be a part of.
I want to walk, run, sit, lay, and live wrapped up in the cocoon of His light and presence that frees me to truly live. His cocoon is one that allows me to evolve, grow, and become safely what He wants me to be - knowing I am on His path, speaking His words, seeing with His eyes, and touching with His hands!
Marisa
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