29th
The fight
Osy was so awesome today.
The key to completely “recklessly” abandoning to him is sleighing the things/idols that hinder our walk. Satan would have us thinking “Oh I am being too extreme. This does not REALLY need to be cut out…” Oh no. By hanging on, we are simply prolonging the deep peace and joy that the Lord will pour out into our lives once we hear that call and jump. Why do I trust him to catch me once I do? Because he has orchestrated the entire thing for my good. He knows, somehow, that I will be better, stronger, and more closely bound to him for having battled and vanquished the thing.
“God is not a passive observer in our lives while sinners and Satan beat us up. He rules over sinners and Satan, and they unwittingly, and with no less fault or guilt, fulfill his wise and loving purposes of discipline in our lives. God is not coming to his children late after the attack, and saying, “I can make this turn for good.” That is not discipline. That is repair. It’s the difference between the surgeon who plans the incision for our good, and the emergency room doctor who sews us up after a freak accident. This text says, God is the doctor planning our surgery, not the doctor repairing our lacerations.” – John Piper
Love is action, love is discipline. We must constantly lay down our lives. Bob Flayhart from Oak Mountain says that the spiritual life is like a 3 step waltz. Repent, believe, fight… repent, believe, fight… over and over again, trusting him all the while. Abandoning our control to him every morning (every hour).
To believe that once we repent then believe, there will be no fight… there will be no laying down our idols… is like saying I want to plant a beautiful garden on Saturday and then never enjoy getting my hands dirty… the battle is exciting. Spiritual warfare is so real. My friend was telling me of his dog named Skeeter who chases chipmunks daily with the same intensity no matter how many times he fails to catch one. Lucky for the little guys, they have “a myriad of holes” into which they can scamper when this dangerous beast of a merciless “Skeeter” threatens their lives again and again :) ‘Ole Skeeter would loose interest if he came out of the door every single morning to find a bunch of little chipmunk paperweights just lying still :)
I was thinking of how Skeeter may not catch them but has most probably learned some things through trial and error which allow him to get closer and closer to the goal: A nice yummy chipmunk dinner.
So often I find myself thinking…
“Here I am again Lord, stuck in this cyclical thing revisiting the same struggles. I know what I did wrong this time, I will do better next time, yada yada yada…” As Tim K says… “shut up spiritually! just shut up!”
He has orchestrated a perfect plan to discipline and sharpen. That plan is not some cyclical process but an upward spiral.
I grew up absolutely horse CUUURAZZZYY. I used to jump. In eventing (jumping an outside course with rougher terrain) or show jumping, the judges score the horse and rider on the basis of the grace and fluidity with which they complete the course, and whether or not they complete the course all the way through without missing a hurdle/jump. If a horse balks (stops short and scoots around it) at a jump, the rider can’t continue the course until he conquers that jump. He has to turn back around, as embarrassing as it is, and go over that jump. I always loved the challenge of that though. What an analogy. That horse is brought back to the very place where it was weak, time and time again until he understands how he can conquer it. He continues to bring me back to places where I am weak until I sleigh the idol and leave it there, at his feet. Interesting analogy huh? Simple yet oh so profound. When we fail, he does not leave us there. He will persist through discipline (out of love) until we acknowledge him and learn. I love that he calls us to fight.
“Cowards never won heaven. Do not claim that you are begotten of God and have His royal blood running in your veins unless you can prove your lineage by this heroic spirit: to dare to be holy in spite of men and devils.” -William Gurnall
