Entertaining Angels – Player of Pawns

Greetings Dear Reader,

I have played chess since I was a young boy.  In my experience players hold two views of pawns.  Some view them as cannon fodder to be spent in achieving a grander design.  The other view is that every pawn is a precious piece of the puzzle that is forethought and victory.

People often view God as a player of pawns.  He is.  God, however, is the ultimate holder of the latter view of pawns.  He views the pawn as no less valuable than the king.  Jesus explained to us that there is no one above anyone else when it comes to the value of human life.

One of the objects of chess is forethought.  It teaches us to think as many moves ahead as possible with as many variances as possible.  Some people can do this to the point that they can imagine every possible outcome of the game.  If once successfully does this then all of their moves are based on the free choices of the opponent. 

This is the basis of how God deals with us and free will.  What appears to be predestination or a form of pawn playing is actually God responding to every choice we make.  He weaves the story of humans with the threads that they choose.

The vast multitudes of threads that we choose are already known to God.  His plays are responses based on that foreknowledge.  He chooses responses that lead toward his ultimate win.  His definition of win is getting the world back to “good”.  His motivation is love.

We do not get to choose how everything unfolds.  We do get to choose how we interact with the unfolding.  We see our moves as insular acts.  God sees every one of them as vital movements in the dance toward redemption.  He did sacrifice the King to save the pawns.  After all, even though it is for us, it is not about us.

The Dance – Kemper Crabb

All creation moves in a cosmic Dance

Before the Lord her King

And the rhythms, the reason, the rhyme

Of the dance pulses within everything

And the universe wheels and whirls like

A dervish in perfect seven-step time.

The Lord made the Dance,

He taught her the steps, and He

Causes the songs to shine.

We must dance, dance, dance

Dance in God's honor.

We must yield all of our steps unto the King

We must dance, dance, dance

Dance in God's honor.

Let His praises ring throughout the earth.

Adam and Eve danced in Eden's environs

early`in earth's morning air

They named all the animals musical names

Glorious potentiality shared.

But Lucifer sang out a serpentine song

And he offered death's dance as a token.

In pausing to listen, Adam missed his step

Earth's harmony in the dance broken.

We must dance, dance, dance

Dance in God's honor.

We must yield all of our steps unto the King

We must dance, dance, dance

Dance in God's honor.

Let His praises ring throughout the earth.

Jesus danced into the world.

Singing his heavenly song.

He taught the dance to those who would

Listen and learn as He moved along.

But the steps of His dance led to a cross

Where He died as the haters mocked on.

But he danced through death's arms

And over hell's gate and in three days

Danced forth from his tomb.

We must dance, dance, dance

Dance in God's honor.

We must yield all of our steps unto the King

We must dance, dance, dance

Dance in God's honor.

Let His praises ring throughout the earth.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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