Peace for fear. That's what God promises. We give Him our anxiety, He gives us His peace.
I feel like God has led me out onto a tightrope across a deep gorge. (Not entirely tight; it sways under my weight.)
He promises to be with me and uphold me. Though I am scared of heights I
have no doubts and little fear because I know Him. I know He loves me
and I know He can be trusted. I take one step after another, carefully
but confidently, keeping my eyes on Him. Step by step I follow and I am
amazed that He is making the impossible possible.
In the middle of the rope--hundreds of feet long--over the deepest
part of the gorge, He has me stop and tells me to lift one foot. I take a
deep breath and obey. It's scary and I'm shaking--but I don't fall.
Then
He tells me to raise that leg and grasp that foot with my hand.
Terrified, I do. He is over me, under me, all around me. I am up in the
heavenlies where He reigns and where the angels move freely. They
surround us, brushing us gently with their wings. Friends, taking hits
for us, are holding us up in prayer. A mighty crowd of witnesses, gone
before, cheer us on. My terror gives way to exhilaration.
I feel chosen for a unique purpose--chosen, but
expendable. God will protect me. They cannot hurt us. I think I know how
this will turn out but I can't know for sure. And my falling from the
tightropes may be part of His plan, a means to His end, which is bigger
than I am, bigger than our church, bigger than Long Beach, as big as
revival spreading across this nation, as Jerry and I walk our tightropes
and other believers throughout America walk theirs.
It does not matter how this turns out for me. If I am understanding Him
correctly, my obedience, like every individual obedience, will glorify
Him and enable Him to do great things, things He could not do
otherwise--because He has limited His power in relation to His creation
to include, to be partially dependent on, our prayers and our
submission. If I have misunderstood, if I am hanging out there in space
on my own through my own presumption, I will fall. Yet He knows my heart
and even if I am wrong, He can work around my disobedience and
accomplish His good purposes in spite of me.
Because He is God and in the end, He wins--and that is all that matters.
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