God's Tapestry

Proverbs 31:22 “She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.”

Tapestry is a woven fabric made from threads of different colors to form a picture or design. Historically they were woven by hand using a loom. They consisted of vertical threads, which made up the warp, and horizontal threads, which formed the weft. A prepared drawing would be placed behind the warp as a pattern for the weaver to fix his eyes upon. This drawing revealed the colors to be used and the pattern to be woven, thus revealing the end result. The weaver would wind the threads of the weft over and under the threads of the warp, which were attached to the loom, in agreement with the pattern before his eyes. After each weft thread was added, a device was used to beat the wefts tightly together. Unlike ordinary fabric in which the warp and the weft are both seen, the finished tapestry would reveal only the weft threads. The original warp threads were no longer visible. Finished tapestry was a mirror image of the prepared pattern.

Once you accept Christ as Savior and Lord, your clothing is silk and purple. You are the shining white Righteousness of God and belong to the Royal Family regardless of how you feel about it or what you have done. You are a virtuous woman by virtue of the blood of Jesus. The virtuous woman’s life begins as warp threads attached to a loom, yielded but unfinished. The warp threads that once consisted of a life of sin and unforgiveness are now washed clean, but that is only the beginning. Now begins the weaving of your coverings of tapestry. You are the co-author of your life story, and it is never too late to change the ending. Psalm 139:16 says: “Your eyes saw my unformed substance and in Your Book all the days of my life were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them”. God has a plan. The drawing of a meaningful life has been prepared. That pattern can be found in no other place than the Word of God: Psalm 16:11 “You will show me the path of life…” Psalm 119:105 “Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” As you put the Word of God before your eyes, the weaving begins one weft thread at a time. As you trust and follow the Artist’s plan, the warp threads are hidden in the weft. You become who you were created to be. Your life becomes the life of purpose you have longed for, hidden in Christ.

His Grace Is Sufficient

Mark 6:45-52 “And straightway He constrained His disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while He sent away the people. And when He had sent them away, He departed into a mountain to pray. And when evening was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and He alone on the land. And He saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night He cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. But when they saw Him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: For they all saw Him, and were troubled. And immediately He talked with them, and said unto them, ‘Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.’ And He went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened."

Jesus commands His disciples to get into the ship and go to Bethsaida. They obey and here comes a storm! Does this sound familiar? If so, you are not alone. There is an enemy that opposes our every act of obedience; old habits haunt us, the winds of temptation blow against us, and my personal favorite--Satan stirs up our loved ones against us as we seek to do what is right.  Serving God is not for the faint of heart! 

Jesus sees them in the midst of the storm. I dare say it was not with His eyes that He saw them, but in prayer as He prayed for them. In response, Jesus walks out to them on the sea and would have passed them by. Why would He do that!? Mark is the only one that points this out and I think it is a very important point. Jesus is endeavoring to demonstrate to them that this storm does not have the power to stop them from getting to Bethsaida. In Matthew’s account, Peter gets out of the boat at the command of Jesus, and as long as his eyes are on Jesus, he walks on the water. When he begins to look around and pay attention to the storm and its effects on his surroundings, he loses his balance and begins to sink. Rest assured that when you choose to follow Jesus and obey His commands, there will be opposition. The enemy of your soul will seek to get your eyes off of Jesus. His goal is to sink you in the quagmire of your own emotions and feelings that are, in fact, powerless to stop you unless you allow them. It was not the storm that disabled Peter’s ability to walk on water.

How many of you can walk on water on a calm day? It was what Peter saw with his eyes and heard with his ears that evoked the emotions and doubt. The storm was designed to steer his attention away from Jesus and stop his progress. 

When Jesus saw that the disciples were so fearful that they would not be comforted, He calmed the winds and the waves. When they saw this their minds could not grasp it, almost to the point of insanity, because they had not considered the miracle of the loaves!

What in the world does feeding five thousand men plus women and children with five loaves of bread and two fish have to do with making it fearlessly through a storm? The message is simple and undiluted. The loaves represent Jesus’ body, broken for our salvation. When blessed and broken it is more than enough to fill all who are hungry with plenty left over. Even after picking up twelve baskets of leftover bread, they still had no understanding of Jesus’ message to them. Yeah, I didn’t get it either. This was going to take a little time and effort, a little prayer and meditation. OK, let’s take it to the next level. 

Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” First of all, if Jesus’ body was broken for my salvation, what exactly is it?  Is it being saved from hell when this life is over? Having fire insurance is good but what about here and now? The word “saved or salvation” is the Greek word “sozo” which means to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction, to save a suffering one from disease, to make well, heal, restore to health, to make whole. This is far from what I learned as a child in my denomination that assured me of heaven but denied the full saving power of the broken body of Jesus. Next is the word “grace”, which we have equated with powerlessness or acceptance of the evils that happen to us. In II Corinthians 12, we have assumed that God refused to heal Paul when He said, “My grace is sufficient for you…” leaving Paul to suffer some ailment while spreading the Gospel. This defies the true meaning of Grace. In addition, the word “sufficient” means enough, possessing unfailing strength. This further annihilates our impotent revelation of “Grace!” If Jesus body was broken for our salvation and it is by grace that we are saved, I believe we can safely surmise that grace is the power force that flows from the broken body of Christ. Ephesians 2:8 goes on to say that we must receive this power by faith. We do not have to work for it; it is a gift of God. Had the disciples realized the sufficiency of grace they possessed, they undoubtedly would have navigated the storm without fear and safely arrived at their destination. Just as the disciples each had their own basket; you have an equal share of that same grace, and it is sufficient!