Abba's Dearly Beloved

‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty. Zechariah 4:6

The Invisible Wall

Have you ever noticed a bee trying to escape the confines of your house only to be confronted by two pains of clear glass? You can see it frantically struggle and push against to no avail only to tire until it musters enough energy and tries again with the same result. Eventually the bee gives up and as bizarre as it sounds I pity this sight and I don’t know if you ever do this but a surge of compassion will sometimes see me eager to find a flat surface for the bee to step onto and then usher it out of an open window. For all the bee’s determination, it cannot move an inch further when confronted by a pain of glass and the most frustrating thing for the bee is that it cannot understand why given that a see through window does little to alter the light by which the bee navigates.

I don’t know about you but this analogy in many ways feels similar to how our experiences can be when we bump up against a wall in our own lives. We long to see breakthrough in areas of repeated struggle, pain or turmoil and when desperation or impatience gets the better of us, we lose sight of God’s faithfulness and perhaps feel he is either too slow or not turning up to help us in this so we need to take action ourselves.

It is only after repeated attempts to fight through something in our own strength that in truth we cannot overcome on our own, that with weary lips we cry out for help from the divine, loving Heavenly Father and saviour who can.

Over the past few days, I have been in a familiar battle with specific and triggered anxious thoughts. I feel like that bee, I desperately long to push through the invisible wall that holds me back but no matter what I did in this situation, my attempts at fighting the thoughts and escaping such thinking by my own might and strength did not get me any further. Rather it rendered me felling frustrated, deflated, and worn out. However, in the end I found myself turning to the one place I could really find help, my Father God.

In Dependence and Trust Sit Victory

For me in such moments, I sometimes have to let go of pride as I remember my need for God and my weakness and dependability on him.  Whilst this may be exposed, beautifully in this moment, I always find him faithful and willing to carry me in my weakness and be the author of my victory over this issue. For Jesus is the faithful guide, traveller, friend and saviour who walks along the road of our lives with us as our closest companion and inhabits our very self in the power and authority of His Holy Spirit. Our choice is whether we turn to him seated on the throne of grace in our times of need

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Hebrews 4:16.

For God does not force our hand in trusting him, but he offers his for us to take, showing to us the ocean like depths of his care and bringing to us reassurance, strength and peace we are seeking in our time of need.

For I am the Lord your God
    who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, do not fear;
    I will help you.

Isaiah 41:13.

Perhaps you may not relate to the battle I just shared with anxiety, but there are things in your life that you have come up against sometimes several times. Whether this may be a persistent anxious thought, an unhealthy repetitive habit or thought pattern or discouragement at being misunderstood or undervalued, we want to fight in a desperate struggle to overcome. Our hearts may be in the right place with this determination to overcome yet the foundation of our resolve and reliance when placed in our own resources and efforts rather than the everlasting eternal Father God yields frustratingly little progress. 

When we arrive at the place of our dependency and feeling of helplessness, we find God steps in, takes us by the hand and shows us the way forward. Like the bee, it was only with the help of someone who knew the bigger picture, who understood what we like the bee are facing and knows the end from the beginning, that we witness with joy his hand at work in victory and breakthrough. 

Defeating Your Giants

Such giants in our lives may seem intimidating and unmoveable, like soldiers in the army of Israel must have felt when Goliath intimidated and taunted them, but such giants do not just have to face you, they have to face the might of the almighty creator God who is for you (Romans 8:31). When facing Goliath, David realised this:

“David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”

1 Samuel 17:45

He also recognised that God had also through past deliverance from bears and lions prepared him for this moment to face such a major challenge.

“The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

1 Samuel 17:37

As with David, we do not therefore have to be discouraged with the familiar pattern of fighting against the same immoveable, invisible walls in our lives whatever that might look like. For we have a God who by His Holy Spirit alone can move what we in our own strength cannot. As with David with his deliverance from the wild animals threatening the flock he was tending, God prepares us for victory one step at a time.

In walking with Christ, the one who loves us more than we can know, we discover more and more the heart of the Anointed One who came as the fulfilment of the prophetic words of Isaiah as the vessel for the proclaiming good news of salvation and the divine embrace of the poor; for the binding up of the broken-hearted hurt by rejection or self-hatred or abandonment, for proclaiming freedom for the captives and release for the prisoners caught in spiritual, emotional or mental darkness. This is the Lord we serve and are loved by; Praise be indeed to God!