A WAY WHERE THERE IS NO WAY
Keep me free from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge. Psalm 31:4
Last night was one of those nights when God was speaking loudly in my ear. A very powerful dream, the kind that I get once a year, visited me. The message was, in one way, for me. Yet, to the extent that I can write about it, it may also be for you.
We often find ourselves hemmed in. We didn’t see it coming. We traveled along, thought things were fine as we acted upon the advice of well-meaning people, but ended up at this dead end nonetheless. Perhaps the brick wall also puts us in peril. We try to re-trace our steps to find someone to blame but we discover that our way was shaped by well-meaning companions who were also doing the best they could to dispense advice. They’re just not God. And so we stand in a place where it’s impossible to go forward and equally impossible to go back. It’s as if we ascended a mountain through switchback turns, barely survived, and the only way is forward.
While we rail and fret, God is listening. Our anxiety doesn’t bring Him to the scene to start problem solving. He knew way back that we’d be here and put everything in place long ago to make a way of escape. His sovereignty allowed the trap and His sovereignty has devised a glorious solution for our salvation and His glory. What’s difficult to see is that the trap is really our friend. The proposition seems preposterous. How can it be that the very thing that threatens my life is my doorway to glory! Yet, it is. It always is because from God’s vantage point, the steps of a righteous man are ordered by Him.
Traps are illusions. Traps take us to hidden doors that only God can see. Traps lead us to God’s arms. Traps show us that God is the hero of our story. Traps reveal the brokenness and limitations of the people around us but then reveal the power and glory of our Father. Traps end one way of life and introduce us to a better way. Traps offer us the chance to embrace new spiritual paradigms.
Perhaps what I’m cursing under my breath is really something for which I should give thanks. I also need to stop looking for what I think salvation will look like and ask God to give me supernatural vision for the door that leads to spacious places. This wall is God’s window to my future.
I will stop crying and dare to believe. Amen
Copyright Christine Inc.
Originally published Tuesday, 17 September 2019.
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