My Pastor did the most amazing Bible Study a few years ago. It was a study about the Kings of the Land that the Israelites faced upon entering the Promised Land in Joshua chapter 12. The Promised Land, or Cana, is a picture of the Christians journey through this world. The Israelites fought many hard battles upon entering this Land but it's the battle against the King of Hazor whom is mentioned in verse 19 that really got to me.
The King of Hazors name means "walls". When this evil King wages war against us as Christians and we give in to his attack, we erect walls in our hearts. Erecting these walls might come more easily to some of us then to others. If you are the survivor of abuse, you undoubtedly have used this type of defense mechanism many times in your life. It's an automatic response to danger; we withdraw and put barricades between the attacker and ourselves. This is a very learned practice in my life. I learned early in my marriage how to "shut down" emotionally, to withdraw and disengage from the one hurting me. This practice soon broadened to include anyone not only that was hurting me but could possibly hurt me in the future. It is how I survived, but it was not the right way. In closing myself off I also effectively closed out the Lord and the help that He was waiting to offer me. I was depending on myself...which always ends in disaster.
Psalms 59:17 "...God is my defense..."
Psalms 62:2 "...He is my defense..."
Psalms 62:6 "...He is my defense..."
Psalms 94:22 "But the Lord is my defense"
Are you beginning to see a theme here. God and God alone can be our defense. Shutting down emotionally is not the way to defend ourselves, God wants us engaged in life. How can we effectively live and witness for Him in this world, if we are behind walls that cut us off from those around us? How can God use us if we aren't available to Him or others?
When we spend our energy building walls of seperation to protect ourselves, what we are saying to God is, "I can do a better job at protecting me then You can!" I'm better then God...wow, how arrogant can we be!
I had spent years building walls in my heart, learning to hide from the painful things that life was throwing at me. It is very hard to break a strongly ingrained habit. With God's help I'm fighting this evil nasty King, but I can't do it in my own strength. It's a daily battle and sometimes he sneaks up on me and it's days or even weeks before I realize that he has pulled me back into my old practice again.
God provided the Israelites with the power to overcome these wicked Kings that they encountered in the Promised Land. Is there any doubt that He can still provide His children today with the needed strength to fight these same enemies? No! God is the same yesterday, today and forever. What was available to God's children back then is no different then what He offers us today. We just have to come to the place of realizing that we will meet only defeat and suffering if we try to do things in our own strength.
Isaiah 40:28 - 29 "Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength."
Never a trial that He is not there,
Never a burden that He doth not bear,
Never a sorrow that He doth not share,
Moment by moment, I'm under His care.
Never a weakness that He doth not feel,
Never a sickness that He cannot heal;
Moment by moment I follow His will,
Jesus my Savior abides with me still.
Daniel W. Wittle
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