The other morning in prayer I kept hearing one word over and over and it really didn’t make any sense. The night before we had grilled steak and I kept seeing those steaks on the grill. Now in my family we have both extremes and in the middle. Diane likes her’s so rare it’s hardly warm and Amanda wants hers well done. As for me, I’m sort of a medium guy. So there I was in the middle of my quiet time thinking about steak.
Then the Lord asked me a question: “Could Amanda’s steak be undone?”
Well that was a pretty easy one to answer. Then He asked me if I could be undone. That one took some thought and He reminded me of Isaiah’s words when he saw the Lord filling the temple:
Isa 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
When Isaiah said he was “undone” (nidmeti) it meant that he was brought to complete silence; utterly dumb. He had seen the Lord of hosts. The picture represents to me that his “unclean lips” symbolized his attitudes and actions as well as his words because they all reflected his thinking. And the nearer a man gets to God the more he becomes aware of the evil in his heart. And it’s the same for us, the closer we get to our bridegroom the more we reflect on just how far we are from becoming what He created us to be. But that’s where He threw me a curve.
“No, Amanda’s steak can’t be undone, but you can and My Spirit is charged with getting that accomplished. And the first step is that you need to undo the image that you have of yourself. You need to step back and see yourself through My eyes. I see the image of you that was created before time and you need to understand that you will get there. It’s just that I’m not done yet and you need to let Me finish the process. You need to let me re-do you into my image, the one you are to be conformed into.”
As I thought about that I got the impression that the process is like reprogramming a computer. The Holy Spirit works in us every day undoing all the left over “code” from our old nature, all that old code that is keeping us from operating at peak performance. If we will just allow Him to reprogram our soul to follow our spirit and not our old nature we’ll find ourselves begin to walk more in His power, strength and authority. That’s something we can’t do, and seeing ourselves in our own image isn’t helping:
Zech 4:6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
The problem I have is that I often view my image through my own eyes, which is mostly imperfect; well done! That’s what the Lord wants to change in all of us. He always sees us as His perfect creation and His Spirit is encouraging us to agree with His view and let Him change us. It’s a view that sees us in “perfect righteousness,” not the imperfection of our old sinful nature.
So, while Amanda’s steak can’t be undone, we can. All it takes is letting ourselves become “undone” in His presence and sit in “utter silence” in order to hear what He has to say about who we are in His eyes and what He wants to change in us that is keeping us from becoming just like Him. Perhaps Diane has a better perspective with her very rare steak… it doesn’t need to be undone, just put back on the grill for a little more cooking. I think that’s where we all need to get back to… undone so we can let Him cook us to perfection.