Psalm 46:1-6,10-11
"God
is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore
we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into
the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the
mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make
glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is
within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth
melts.... He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted
among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The Lord Almighty is
with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress."
Okay, so I'm praying a little bit ago,and ask the Lord what should I write about today? You know those looks that you get when you as a silly question in which someone has just told you the answer? It's a look of amazement at how much we just didn't 'get it' (or 'duh - I just told you'). I was like, oh.
Imagine a mountain in front of you - an obstacle in our personal path with Him. Contrary to popular belief, no, we are not in any way, shape or form, perfect ;) We ask Him if He's going to remove it or are we going to climb it or is it something that's going to take a little longer and go around it. He said, "It's not A, B, or C - It's D (none of the above). We're going to go through it." At this point He turns to us and smiles. Somehow, we know we are not going to like this.
So, He simply parts the mountain. No falling rock, no loud noises - a part of the mountain has simply been removed to reveal a narrow path through it. It's not really a straight path, to where we can keep our eyes focused on the other side, maybe a little daylight shining through to make us feel better - none of that. Just a small enough amount of light that is glowing off of Jesus - so, we figure we had better stick to Him like glue - like super-glue.
Some of us (as in I) am afraid. I like a challenge, but really - I don't like closed in places. Just like I don't relish the idea of falling from heights, but force myself to get into places where I try to overcome that.... until I look down....
Well, we go in a little scared, but we are on Jesus' heels (almost literally). Then we look up and see how tall the mountain is. We look at the rocks jutting out that could fall at any time. We look at just how narrow this opening is and this little thought comes into out heads 'what if you get stuck in here'? Our eyes adjust and we see little ground creatures - some are kind of cool, others are not so cool.
Every once in a while we snag ourselves on a small sharp rock - maybe producing a cut here and there - some bruises here and there, but we can't stop, because Jesus isn't stopping.
Jesus just keeps walking and what? He's even whistling, like He's done this a million times before or something! In the meantime, our hearts are beating wildly and it's getting hard to catch our breath. At this point we are wondering if the path is ever coming out on the other side... it's been such a long journey.
Jesus stops - we stop. He turns around takes us by the shoulders, looks into our eyes and says, 'It's okay. Do not fear, WE are going to get through this.' As we look into His eyes, a calmness comes over our souls and a courage floods over our wildly beating hearts and he starts to back up - still looking at us. His eyes are like fire and He's emboldening us with that fire. The more we look at Him, the more light comes from Him and we see sparkling in the walls - they are gems! Beautiful gems.... The light dims and He turns back around and keeps walking. Fear instantly starts to clamor for our attention, and we do have to admit we're still a little afraid, but as long as we just follow Jesus, it's doesn't overwhelm us. This happens a few times over the course of meandering through the mountain path.
Eventually we come through to the other side of the mountain. The work is done, the beauty of the valley is awesome to behold, because the Lord created it for us and He is Awesome.
The point? Being a Christian, doesn't mean we don't go through hard things in our lives. It doesn't mean that we don't become afraid to walk through those hard things. The Lord wants to reassure us that He has/is/always will go before us and all we need to do is follow His lead. He'll turn around when we need His to and if we look into His eyes - we will see the love and courage that melts away the fear... and we can go on a little further...
Okay, so I'm praying a little bit ago,and ask the Lord what should I write about today? You know those looks that you get when you as a silly question in which someone has just told you the answer? It's a look of amazement at how much we just didn't 'get it' (or 'duh - I just told you'). I was like, oh.
Imagine a mountain in front of you - an obstacle in our personal path with Him. Contrary to popular belief, no, we are not in any way, shape or form, perfect ;) We ask Him if He's going to remove it or are we going to climb it or is it something that's going to take a little longer and go around it. He said, "It's not A, B, or C - It's D (none of the above). We're going to go through it." At this point He turns to us and smiles. Somehow, we know we are not going to like this.
So, He simply parts the mountain. No falling rock, no loud noises - a part of the mountain has simply been removed to reveal a narrow path through it. It's not really a straight path, to where we can keep our eyes focused on the other side, maybe a little daylight shining through to make us feel better - none of that. Just a small enough amount of light that is glowing off of Jesus - so, we figure we had better stick to Him like glue - like super-glue.
Some of us (as in I) am afraid. I like a challenge, but really - I don't like closed in places. Just like I don't relish the idea of falling from heights, but force myself to get into places where I try to overcome that.... until I look down....
Well, we go in a little scared, but we are on Jesus' heels (almost literally). Then we look up and see how tall the mountain is. We look at the rocks jutting out that could fall at any time. We look at just how narrow this opening is and this little thought comes into out heads 'what if you get stuck in here'? Our eyes adjust and we see little ground creatures - some are kind of cool, others are not so cool.
Every once in a while we snag ourselves on a small sharp rock - maybe producing a cut here and there - some bruises here and there, but we can't stop, because Jesus isn't stopping.
Jesus just keeps walking and what? He's even whistling, like He's done this a million times before or something! In the meantime, our hearts are beating wildly and it's getting hard to catch our breath. At this point we are wondering if the path is ever coming out on the other side... it's been such a long journey.
Jesus stops - we stop. He turns around takes us by the shoulders, looks into our eyes and says, 'It's okay. Do not fear, WE are going to get through this.' As we look into His eyes, a calmness comes over our souls and a courage floods over our wildly beating hearts and he starts to back up - still looking at us. His eyes are like fire and He's emboldening us with that fire. The more we look at Him, the more light comes from Him and we see sparkling in the walls - they are gems! Beautiful gems.... The light dims and He turns back around and keeps walking. Fear instantly starts to clamor for our attention, and we do have to admit we're still a little afraid, but as long as we just follow Jesus, it's doesn't overwhelm us. This happens a few times over the course of meandering through the mountain path.
Eventually we come through to the other side of the mountain. The work is done, the beauty of the valley is awesome to behold, because the Lord created it for us and He is Awesome.
The point? Being a Christian, doesn't mean we don't go through hard things in our lives. It doesn't mean that we don't become afraid to walk through those hard things. The Lord wants to reassure us that He has/is/always will go before us and all we need to do is follow His lead. He'll turn around when we need His to and if we look into His eyes - we will see the love and courage that melts away the fear... and we can go on a little further...
Overcome - Jeremy Camp
No comments:
Post a Comment