THE WEIGHT
By definition, heavy trials and concerns weigh us down and try to smoosh us, nose first, in the mud of disillusionment: a suffocating business! Emotional sadness, physical pain, unresolved questions, frenetic overactivity, dulling boredom, chronic overwhelm, financial burdens, relational disappointment – they’re all weights. And they’re heavy.
Sometimes one weight presses on top of another, compounding the pressure until it seems a person’s very heart will burst. The burden grows, mushrooms like a Hiroshima cloud, and turns into a Goliath-of-a-weight with fall-out that keeps raining down and down and down.
And then, the stone.
THE STONE
One smooth stone in David’s sling slew the huge giant-of-a-man pressing down on the Israelites as he threatened, taunted, and demanded their surrender. Just one little rock and Goliath was history. Not a crushing boulder in an avalanche, or a whole quarry full of gravel, but an average small stone just waiting for an anointed hand to aim and fire it.
Stones are available to me as well. As in David’s case, they’re within easy reach. These are stones that promise to transform life – stones that fly like arrows into the very core of human life. Praise. Love. Prayer. Repentance. Fasting. Humility. Submission. Sacrificial giving. Persistent serving. The name of Jesus! HOPE.
"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought
into captivity to the obedience of Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:4,5)
With careful aim and release those pressing earthly weights must, and do, fall to their knees and submit to a greater power. They may rise again to do battle in minutes or hours or days, but other single stones, applied in faith, will subdue them again. And again. And yet again. This is why we are to prepare for battle every day, all day.
THE CLOTHES
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” (Ephesians 6:10-18)
Too often I get up in the morning and dress in secular clothes: self-sufficiency, self-absorption, self-limitation, self-centeredness, self-reliance. Then the weights start their crushing. The what-ifs start their taunting. At that point, I have a choice to either fight back on-the-spot, bare-fisted and helpless, or else run to the closet to change into clothes that equip me for battle.
I need to continually clean out my wardrobe and discard everything but the King-of-King’s clothes…..an ongoing process, it seems. But I am encouraged. Little by little I am becoming more consistently clothed in stone-throwing clothes that enable confessions of faith in the One True God to pepper my weights like spiritual shrapnel.
No comments:
Post a Comment