Sunday, May 20, 2007

The Walls Came Tumbling Down



We have been studying the book of Hebrews in church and we have been in chapter 11 where we explore what it means to live by faith. Verse 30 uses the example of the Isrealites walking around the city of Jericho until the walls fell down. So in the service today we talked about this place of faith where the Isrealites were trapped between a river at flood stage and a fortified enemy city. Between this "rock and a hard place" they were commanded by God to be circumsised, which also left them completely incapacitated. So here they were between two seemingly insurmountable obstacles AND they couldn't even fight! THEN God asks them to quietly walk around the enemy city a bunch of times and then shout. Weird. But because they trusted God, and obeyed, they lived and conquered.
Our pastor had the entire church listen to his directions once and we were to obey. They were this: everyone was to leave the auditorium and go to the field behind the church and then listen for a horn to blow, then we were to follow the pastor and walk completely around the building, go in the back doors and find our seat again, all without speaking. At first I thought that this was ridiculous because there was probably 1000 of us and dismissal after church is always a chaotic mess! But as we all silently obeyed, I was able to witness a small picture of how beautiful it is when together we obey the will of God, and how by being obedient, life works; even when it seems crazy to us. The whole church was able to follow the directions and get back into our seats in about ten minutes time, and it was peaceful and ordered. Amazing.
I so often find myself in an impossible situation where I am unable to go back, and I am also unable to move foward. I am completely weakened and have nothing to put my trust in but the Lord Himself. Today I was reminded that when I am in that place of impossibility, that it is a gift of grace. For in my human nature I am most willing to place my trust in anything that makes sense to me - even if it is not a good decision, instead of listening to God. So, when He puts me in that place where there is no one and nothing left but Him, I am thankful because I know that my life is not life with out Him. Even when it makes no sense to me, when I follow Him I truely LIVE! It is so exciting to me to see what God is going to do in the dire circumstances of my life! To see how He is going to sustain me, because He always does - in the most amazing ways. He has never given me a reason NOT to trust Him even though my natural instincts don't want to. He is faithful EVERY time I place my faith in Him. Now all I want is to be able to slow down so that I can LISTEN to Him, so that I can OBEY him, so that I can see the AMAZING things He has planned next for me!

1 comment:

Joan Del said...

Awesome! I'm going to try to cut and paste and send to Dad. (I don't think he'll take the time time to log on. Love, Mom