Originally published Tuesday, 01 September 2015.
Here I am.
This is me, Lord.
I am waiting.
And just trying to dodge the arrows of life.
Will you run to my rescue and save the day?
I stand in a field of open vulnerability - arms wide open, head lifted, hoping. The darkness is thick and the opponents are many. I can cut the weight of circumstances with a knife and it seems they might cut me too.
Am I going to get hurt? Much like the good samaritan,
will I be left crying, on the side of the road?
They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. Lu. 10:30
Why do you leave good people, with bad problems God?
My beating chest is unsure,
but you say - what comes to beat me, you've already beaten.
What terrorizes to take me down,
was already taken down when you were lifted up.
What appears to be breaking will not only be fully molded and made, but also fully established.
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
1 Pet. 5:10
So, though my heart feels arms wide open to pain, my soul relishes in the idea that I am rescued from it.
I wrap my arms around the here, the now and say, if I don't have faith, I don't have anything - except fear.
Faith makes God my primary weapon.
It hushes "I can't" and loudens "I can."
It restores what life tries to steal: Peace in you, through you and for you.
It takes hold and makes you go.
So, I tell myself: God will do it.
He won't abandon me to fear.
He'll make a way for hope.
He won't let peace go.
He will shield me from the arsenal of arrows.
If they seem to hit me, he will seemingly restore me one day.
God is closer than the pain - if I really let him reign.
He flips bad circumstances so they never look the same.
What seemed down, gives us new meaning as we look up.
What looked dark, becomes light.
What wanted to leave me for dead, leaves me with new life.
He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. Lu. 10: 34
As the good samaritan is rescued, so am I.
Do you see your rescue? Do you believe in it?
Like the good samaritan, left for dead, you are being brought back to life:
He was despised & forsaken.
A man of sorrows & grief.
One from whom men hide their face - despised.
We did not esteem Him.
Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken...
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
Is. 53:3-12
The more we hook up to this truth, the more we strengthen in the recharging power of amazing grace.
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